I pretend to care, he pretends he loves me
by Carrie Swinton
Summary: Bella Swan isn't your average 18 year old, she's also Peyton Steele, the popstar. After trouble in Hollywood means school in Forks, she falls for Edward Cullen. Except, Edward is in love with Peyton but hates Bella. How can this go wrong? AH. AU.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer._

_I know I should be updating my other stories, but I want to try this plotline out. _

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**Some Home Truths. **

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"Peyton! Here!"

"Come on, Peyton. Give me a smile."

"Peyton!"

Checking in the window of the limo I smiled as demurely as I could at the flashing cameras, but my smile changed shape within the second as I noticed where one of the cameras were facing. My fist clenched in anger and my thought processes were covered in red, ready to aim...

*

High school. That's what you get when you sucker punch a member of the well-gated community, the paparazzi. It doesn't matter that the photographer had tried to take a picture of my ass and publish it in some second-rate porn magazine, or on some online community that documents the asses of celebrities. All that matters was that Peyton Steele was wrong, and the whole tabloid industry had a lot to write. Enough to write, that my manager slash mom, Renee, decided that enough was enough. No more Little Miss Diva and her wacky demands. No more singing in sell-out concerts. No more being famous. It seemed I needed a reality check, and the world did not revolve around me. And it was goodbye LA, hello small town in the Olympic peninsula, Forks. To go back to the real world, and attend high school. And inadvertently to live with my father.

It's not as if I don't enjoy spending time with my father. I had done that so far in my life, I gave my father and some of his friends VIP tickets to my sell-out concerts. My father had met plenty of celebrities, he was there when I picked up my Grammy for "Best New Artist". I spent a long time talking to him over the phone. But this, Forks, that was the main problem. Forks was the opposite of LA, where it was sunny all the time. I had a pool that I could read classics whilst lying on an inflatable chair. I hardly ever tanned, but I didn't care. I liked LA. Forks, on the other hand, was too rainy to have a swimming pool. It was too rainy to read books in the sunshine. It was also deprived of all the shops a teenage popstar needed for the many awards that needed attending. Not that I would be attending any award ceremonies since my mother had put a damper on that. I growled as I sat in the private jet that was flying to Port Angeles. Forks is _that_ small, you actually don't have an airport near there, and the nearest airport is an hour away. Which my mother pointed out, provided sufficient time to talk to Charlie, my father.

I bit my tongue from snapping at her. Charlie didn't talk much. Had she forgotten?

I fingered my blonde wig, before taking it off. I let out a deep sigh. It seemed like one of those TV programmes where a girl had the best of both worlds. In reality it never worked like that. The paparazzi are too good. So, for the best part of 3 years, I have been Peyton Steele, the popstar. I only ditched the wig when I wanted to be unnoticed, and then I became Bella Swan, the average teenager. The wig had been a part of me that had been with me so long, it seemed as if I was losing a part of myself just by removing it. I even slept with this thing on. I watched as the seatbelt sign switched off, signalling it was safe to stand up. I grabbed my carry-on bag and walked to the bathroom. However, this wasn't your standard aeroplane toilet. It was much bigger, and it possibly more hygienic. I stood in front of the mirror, and ran my hands through my shoulder-length brunette hair. God. I had missed this side of me. I looked at myself in the mirror. The make-up on my face seemed unnecessary now. I grabbed my make-up kit and wiped all of it off. Goodbye Maybelline. I grabbed a pair of faded, blue jeans out of the duffel bag, along with a three-quarter length shirt. I reluctantly pulled off all of my designer clothes and folded them carefully before putting them back in the bag. I finally put my old clothes on. Goodbye Gucci and Chanel. Goodbye Peyton Steele.

I looked in the mirror again when my transformation was complete. _Hello, Bella Swan_. The teenager. My former characteristics ran like wildfire through my head. It was like I was acting this side of myself than letting it come naturally to me. _So that's why people stayed grounded, so they don't lose their true colours_. I took a relaxing deep breath, as I had learned in yoga. Inhale. Bella Swan hated shopping. Exhale. Bella Swan was normal. Inhale. Bella Swan did not use her credit card. Exhale. Bella Swan did not wear makeup. I continued in this mantra, so I would have no recollection of how I had forced myself to act for the past 3 years, and I would remember my life before fame had hit it.

I sat back in the chair and fished a book from the bag. I unravelled the headphones on my iPod. I spent the rest of the flight immersed in the book, and my music, not that I listened to myself sing. I wasn't that vain. I tried to ignore the signs of the surrounding out of the window had become less, warm and more green. Because that's what Forks was, _green_. If there was a colour on the colour spectrum I hated most, it was that single colour. The single colour that was spread ruthlessly around Forks, my home for the next year.

"Please can you put your seatbelts on, as we are preparing for landing," the Captain said, and the seatbelt sign flashed. The airhostess gave me a look telling me I needed to switch my iPod off. I rolled my eyes and dumped the offending electronic back into my bag. I crossed my arms and pursed my lips. Everyone around me was treating me like a moody teenager, so I did my best to act like one. The plane landed and finally I was finally in the place I didn't want to be in the most. Forks.

Oh. Great.

*

"So, how was the flight?" Charlie asked, not once taking his eyes off the road.

"Pretty much the same," I replied dryly.

Awkward silence.

"How's Renee?"

"Eccentric, as usual."

Another awkward silence.

"What about Phil?"

An extra-awkward silence, as I didn't particularly want to discuss my stepfather with my father.

"He's...nice."

"Oh."

Yet another awkward silence. These were the essence of conversation with Charlie. They were short, to the point and involved many awkward silences. We sat in silence for about ten minutes, before I popped another question.

"How's Jacob?"

"He's, great. He's growing. Well, he's grown a lot since you last saw him."

I last saw Jacob two years ago, he was bound to grow. We continued to sit in silence.

Forks was turning out to be fantastic.

"So, are you looking forward to school tomorrow?"

Did I say fantastic? I meant a complete nightmare.

* * *

_So, is this a storyline I should continue?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry for the epically long update. This is why I spent ages typing up a long chapter, which was hard because I recently fractured my wrist but was motivated by the reviews I received for the first chapter. _

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. _

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**This isn't what you were looking for**

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_Beep. Beep. Beep._

I groaned. I reached out for the noise-maker. My hand hit the bedside table before actually reaching it. I slammed on it, hard.

_News reports say that there is due to be a snowfall in Forks in the upcoming weeks..._

My groan deepened as I had hit the wrong button. I lifted my head from my pillows and saw the huge 'Snooze' button. How had I missed that? It had been enough to wake me up though. Snowfall in Forks. _That was going to be fantastic_. I looked at the time. 8 o'clock. My stomach dropped. I ran into the bathroom. Charlie had specifically told me that breakfast was promptly served at 8.10, any later I would have to make it myself. He also told me, I was to leave at 8.15, so I could be in school by 8.30. Seeing as I had no car, he would be taking me to school every day. I tried not to feel sick, imagining everyone's faces as I stepped out of his cruiser. Yet, it was more punishment for my justifiable actions.

Getting ready would have meant an hourly process, but I had no one to look good for, so I ran a brush through my bedraggled hair whilst brushing my teeth with my other hand. I let the minty taste tingle on my taste buds before rinsing and spitting it. I repeated this, and returned to my room. I had five minutes to get everything ready. Good job I had prepared my outfit for today. It wasn't much, just a shirt, jeans, sneakers and an anorak. The probable most glamorous thing about my school attire was my bag, conveniently subtle designer. It wasn't even on the market yet, so I doubted anyone here would notice its cost.

I ran downstairs, taking two at a time, my bag swinging wildly. I put it delicately on the last step and power walked into the kitchen.

"Eight-oh-nine, I'm not late!" I shouted to an empty room. I narrowed my eyes. My eyes fell on a note on the kitchen table next to a cereal bar.

_Bells, _

_Sorry but I have an urgent call. Your carpool will be here at 8.15_

_Love, Dad. _

I growled as I ripped the wrapper off the cereal bar. All that preparation for zilch. I stomped all the way back to the sitting room, falling back on one of the old sofas. I gnawed at the cereal bar. I was too angry to appreciate the taste of strawberries and milk. It wasn't much, but it was sufficient. Charlie would have hell to pay when I got home. I crumpled the wrapper in my hand and threw it in the bin before trailing back to the living room. Now came waiting.

I hated waiting. Waiting meant wasting time on doing things productive, like rehearsals or reading. I sat on the sofa, looking at my nails. I winced. The anxiety of coming to Forks had wrecked the manicure I had a week ago. I thought I had given up the habit of biting my nails. I thought wrong. Rather than ponder any longer on my chewed up nails, I supposed I could spend the time looking around the room. There weren't many changes since I had last been here two years ago aside from the Plasma television I bought my father when his old one broke. He was annoyed that I had gone out my way to buy him one, but was pleased that I had ordered the sports channels meaning that he could watch sports at any given time. Pictures lined the fireplace, freezing childhood moments and adolescent memories. Some were painful, my hair had been impossibly frizzy when I was born. Good job that had been a hair phase. I looked at a picture of myself before fame had hit me. It had such an innocence, as if there was a lot I was about to see.

_Beeeeep! _

The loud horn blasted through my entire being.

"Oh, for all that is holy!" I shrieked, clutching my heart which was beating ten to the dozen. I grabbed the keys out of the dish next to the door. I grabbed my school bag as well and opened the door. I slammed it shut before locking it. I glared at the red truck as if it was the root of all my problems. I stormed over. Today. Was. Not. Going. Well.

"Bella!" I looked up at the voice. I saw someone I recognised but couldn't place.

"It's me, Jacob!" the boy said. Comprehension dawned as my mouth formed an 'O'.

"Jacob!" I said excitedly, "Charlie was right, you _have_ grown."

"Well, you haven't seen me for two years, I'm bound to grow."

I grinned. That's what I liked about Jake. He thought similarly to me, and he was always straight to the point. He didn't care about the consequences of stating the obvious. I climbed into the Chevy and he backed out of my road. He looked at me, which worried me slightly because he should have been looking at where he was reversing.

"You've had your hair cut," he noted, still not looking behind him.

"I've had like, thirty haircuts," I said rolling my eyes, "and so have you."

His hand went absently through his hair. It was a lot shorter than it was two years ago, when he used to have it in a ponytail. He didn't elaborate why he changed it, but went on to another topic.

"So, what do you think of the truck?" he asked expectantly. I looked around it and shrugged. I didn't know what to think of it. It wasn't as good as my Lamborghini with lift-up doors, but it wasn't bad either. I reckoned you could smash it into a lamppost and drive off with nothing more than a scratch.

"Not as flashy as your car in LA?" Jacob pressed.

"Nope. But Renee said that there was no way that I was allowed to have it here," I replied sadly.

"Why?"

"She said it would attract too much attention, too conspicuous."

"Huh."

I smirked, but then I saw that the truck would whine if Jacob pushed it higher than fifty miles per hour and I sighed, annoyed that the vehicle couldn't go fast. I tried to point this out subtly by saying, "She was also afraid I'd break too many traffic laws."

"Haha, insult the truck, but I have to tell you, a few more carpools and you will be in love with this truck."

I gave him my award-winning eye roll in response. Damn it, he was good. I watched the scenery change as Jacob turned into Forks High School. He dropped me off by the reception and told me he'd be in the cafeteria at lunch. I nodded and grinned. I had the satisfaction that I knew at least one person at school so far. I walked over to the main office and my phone rang. I dove my hand in my bag and pulled out my iPhone. I looked at who was calling me. I groaned. My frenemy, Tanya.

"Hello Tanya?" I said with a fake smile on my face. I wiped the smile off my face when I saw she couldn't see me.

"Peyton. You have to come to this party in Alaska," she squealed. I held the phone at a distance, until I heard her mindless nattering cease.

"I can't, I'm in Texas," I lied smoothly. I was good at lying, well, to Tanya that was.

"Ew, why?" she complained. It would seem that Tanya DeMarchols couldn't be seen at an A-List party without her A-List frenemy.

"Cos, I'm hiding," I said with the most ludicrous expression on my face. I faced the door and pushed on it. It didn't move.

"Hiding? Why?" Her voice faked concern. I lifted my hand off the door handle, thinking of a lie.

"Because beavers are after me," my voice dripping with sarcasm. The dumbass would probably believe me too.

"Why?"

She was really a child inside an eighteen-year-olds body. I put my hand on the door handle again, pushing the door harder. I realised that I had to pull the damn, heavy thing.

"Because I'm _famous_."

"Ooh. Shame, I'll see you at some other party then." She hung up and I heard a dial tone. I huffed. Finally, she had relented.

"You're meant to pull the door," a voice behind me said. I looked at the boy who had told me this, barely registering his appearance. I blushed as I realised what my hesitation had looked like. I let him go in front of me. Thanks Tanya, your lack of brain cells made me look like I can't open a door properly. He used his elbow to hold the glass door ajar for me, and I took hold of it. He moved on without another word. I sighed. I walked up to the front desk.

"Hello," I said quietly. The woman looked up from her magazine and look back down whizzing through the article. I could see myself, throwing myself at the camera. My mouth was wide open and there was a caption saying, "NO ONE STEELES MY THINGS!"

It would have greatly amused me, had the article not been slating my apparent violent tendencies. I also liked the play-on with my pseudo-surname. As if that one hadn't been used before. I tried to keep a smile plastered on my face as the woman in front of me tutted as she noticed I was peering at the article.

"Kids these days," she sighed, before looking up at me, "they should be sent to remote places so they can get in touch with the real world."

Oh, apparently some of them did.

"How can I help you?" she asked, finally. Jeez, this woman did like to take her time. If my mother were here, she would be looking in the employment section of the newspaper.

"I'm new," I said and she immediately set into action, rifling through the stacks of papers on her desk. I raised an eyebrow, wondering if this woman was on steroids, or didn't know what she was doing.

"Isabella," she said handing me three sheets of paper. One had my new lessons, one had a map of the school and the third was just another list of lessons. I must have looked confused because the woman said, "The last one is so the teacher can sign it, you've got to ask your teacher to sign it and then bring it back at the end of the day."

"Oh, thanks," I muttered, turning away from the office and walking towards the main buildings. Bring on the lessons.

*

By lunch, I was kind of glad it was lunch. I was ready to take a break. Having not attended school in 3 years, high school was not only taking its toll, but taking time to adjust. At least I made a friend, but I kept forgetting her name. I think it was Monica or something. We joined the lunch queue and waited to be served and she asked me some pointless questions. When I got my lunch I saw Jake sitting with three other people and he was shamelessly waving at me. I blushed as everyone's attention moved to me. I stormed over to Jacob, only to be knocked over by a travelling crowd. My tray clattered to the floor and my bag fell on top of it, all my new books flying out. Oh, God. I knew extra mayonnaise had been a bad idea. I tried to find who had knocked me over, but they were gone. Jerks. My bag was ruined, my lunch was inedible, and to top it off, hand-stitching failed me as my new bag split apart. Great. I dumped my would-be lunch into the trash can and tried to regain as much of my dignity as I could as I walked to Jacob's table. He was unable to breathe with laughter.

"Jake, stop acting like a kindergartener," I hissed as I sat down. He grinned goofily. My anger faltered slightly and I tried to be civil.

"Bella, be nice and say hello," Jake said pointing at two of the three other people at the table, "They're Quil and Embry."

"What about me?" the third asked, and she was a girl. She stuck out her lower lip.

"Oh, yeah, you," Jacob said, acting as if he had truly forgotten her, "This is my girlfriend, Leah."

"It's nice to meet you," I replied politely. I felt a tap on my back.

"Bella, do you want to go have lunch with us?" the girl, I assumed called Monica, asked with a wide grin. Her hands were already reaching for my books, some of which, were stained with mayonnaise. I was never going to have mayonnaise again.

"Sorry, I already promised that I'd sit with Jake and his friends, you can sit here if you want," I said looking pointedly at Jake, who had a smirk on his face. The others looked as if they'd rather eat nails than let her join. Monica, I think as she was called, laughed awkwardly and declined the offer and walked back to the table she was at. Jake chuckled under his breath.

"I can't believe you asked _Jessica Stanley_ that," Jake said, shaking his head. I narrowed my eyes.

"Why?" I asked.

"Think of high school like a plane," Leah said, "Jessica Stanley would be flying second-class, as would the group she calls friends."

"We're are you flying?" I pressed on, not getting the message.

"The hold," Quil said bitterly.

"A few years ago, the school on the reservation closed, due to the recession, the parents aren't too bothered if a kid goes to school or not, so there aren't too many of us," Embry said.

"But the ones that wanted to go to school, had to come here," Leah carried on.

"And we've been the outcasts ever since," Jacob finished proudly. Quil's attention shifted from me to a scene behind me.

"Of course, first class has to go to the Cullens and the Hales," he said bitterly. I turned to where he was facing and saw, possibly the most gorgeous people I will ever meet, and I've met some really beautiful people.

"Who are the Cullens and the Hales?" I asked, a smile playing on my lips.

"The ultimate race," Leah said loftily, "Forks High royalty. Or, the student council."

"Shall we start with the Hales?" Embry asked me. I nodded because I didn't know what else to do.

"Rosalie and Jasper Hale, they're the blonde ones of the group and they're fraternal twins. She's the head cheerleader, he's the vice captain of the football team and vice president of the student council. Both clever and both rank the same in class. Believe me, they do have that twin telepathy thing."

"Emmett Cullen, the muscular one, he's captain of the football team. Also, judge not on his size – he's actually really nice, probably why he got 100% of the votes for student council president."

"Alice Cullen, the pixie-like girl," Jacob pointed her out, as she was hiding behind Emmett, "she's possibly one of the girls you have to listen to, fashion-wise and psychic-wise."

"Why?" I asked with a wide grin. I didn't believe much in premonitions. Jake took a deep breath before explaining.

"Let's just say, Alice told Rosalie not to do the pyramid in last seasons' first game, Rosalie wasn't head cheerleader then, so she couldn't control what the head cheerleader, who was called Irina, wanted. So Irina went ahead and did the pyramid, and you know 'cause she's the head cheerleader she was on the top."

"Just before the game started, some freak shows up on the pitch," Embry said, taking over the story, "and kicks the football, he obviously had a grudge against Emmett for not picking him."

"I don't blame him, the boy's aim was terrible," Leah interrupted whilst rolling her eyes. Embry glared at her and carried on, "Well, he was _supposed_ to aim at Emmett, but the football went straight for the cheerleader's pyramid. It hit Irina in the chest and she fell and landed on her back."

"Let's just say, Irina can never walk again," Jacob finished. I looked at Alice. Could a girl, so short, actually tell the future? I would have to stay out of her way.

"And don't forget the last, and the worst," Quil continued.

"Oh yes," Jacob said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Edward Cullen, if Satan ever wanted to come to earth in a human form, Edward Cullen is probably the closest you'd get."

"That's a bit harsh, Jacob," I replied looking back at the last person to be introduced. He was sitting at the table and was staring intently at his tray. I doubted anything so God-like would be so evil. A chord struck, he had been the boy who had helped me this morning.

"No, he's right," Leah added in a harsh voice, "That boy is trouble."

"How so?" I mused. Jacob chuckled sarcastically.

"Edward Cullen, he makes girls fall in love with him and he treats them like nothing after he gets what he wants, which is basically the thrill. But they don't care, 'cause a part of those girls wants to be involved with something like him, which makes the situation even more sick."

"He's not a womanizer, if that's what you think," Embry said, just as dark as Jacob, "he's a bully. He does it to gay boys as well, and to anyone who defies him. Well, they just have hell to pay."

"I don't believe you," I said aloud. Leah smirked. She pointed at a girl who was sitting not far from us. She was just staring and rocking in her chair. A bottle of water was grasped in her hands and she kept unscrewing and screwing the bottle lid. I couldn't look at her yet at the same time I couldn't stop looking at her.

"Three months ago, that girl was bubbly, vibrant, a joie de vivre. That was until she met Edward Cullen," Leah started to say, "For two weeks, he had her believe that he was utterly in love with her, and he brought her to school, bought her presents and went on lots of dates with her."

"Of course, during that time, she had begged him for sex. He told her he didn't want to pressurise her, and not to follow the crowd. But she didn't care, she kept on begging. Until he said that he didn't want sex unless it wasn't attached. He told her that he just wasn't ready for the next level, he also told her that if they did do it, then that's what she would expect of him."

"Let me guess," I whispered in a horrified tone, "she said that she wouldn't bug him about it, as long as he did it once with her?"

Leah nodded sadly, "He controlled her mind, he told her not to call him and that he would need time after it. She grew obsessive and over-analytical, and her grades plummeted. In the end, he said that he didn't want to date a flunkie and just dumped her."

"Thus creating _her_," Jacob said sadly. I looked at her one last time and averted my attention to Jacob.

"Jesus, what kind of world do we live in?" I almost shrieked, "And anyway why don't any of the girls see the monster he is?"

"We wonder the same thing," Leah muttered.

"I thought that the Suffragettes fought for women independence, and here their dignity is taken by Edward Cullen? You don't have to be clever to join up the dots."

"Uh...Bella?"

"Wow, thanks you guys, for opening my eyes to a new breed of fascism and masochism dictated by Edward Cullen," I said, ignoring their terrified eyes.

"Bella?"

"Words cannot describe that person, wait, wanker. Yeah, that's a good one. Don't you think Edward Cullen is such a wanker?"

"Okay, who are you and why are you insulting me?" a velveteen voice said behind me. I turned to look at the person stood behind me.

Edward Cullen.

Oh, crap.

* * *

_Lol, I was writing this and before I knew it I created a dark-womanizing-Edward. Oh dear._

_Anyways, leave me a review?_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer, and for this chapter only, the WB._

_Sorry for not updating in what seems forever, I've broken my wrist and the only thing I can type without causing immense pain is this author's note part. Seriously, if I type for about half-an-hour, it feels like cats are eating my wrist alive. Anyway enjoy._

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**Worst. Day. Ever.**

* * *

I knew I had about a minute to come up with a witty and sarcastic answer. The cafeteria had gone deadly silent and even the rocking girl had focused her attention to me. Edward Cullen waited bated breath for an answer.

"Why are you here, don't you have your own table?" I answered back with a question. If truth be told I was good avoiding questions. And judging by the collective intake of breath my remark hadn't been witty or sarcastic. It had been somewhat daring.

"I was going to pay for a new bag seeing as I caused the other one to split," he told me with one raised eye-brow. I tried hard not to roll my eyes. Inside, my stomach was squirming. Maybe I had been hazed by my friends and he wasn't the spawn of Satan. I looked straight at his green eyes, which were glaring furiously at me. Jacob had been damn right, Edward Cullen was a person not to cross, which I had done in about three sentences. Not Good. Now, I had to get rid of him and shy away to my next class.

"It doesn't matter, it's invaluable anyway," I muttered under my breath. I turned away from him, my thoughts settled completely. I had put him off completely from knowing who I was and why I had inadvertently trash talked him. Hopefully, he would turn 180 degrees and go back to the table he was sat at. Just in case, I crossed my fingers under the table. Double-crossed.

"So, what did I do that makes me a wanker?"

Damn. Crossing fingers never seemed to work.

"You split my bag," I blurted out immediately. _Please go away? _He raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"But I thought it was invaluable," he said shrewdly. I sighed internally. _Nothing_, it would seem would drive this boy away when he wanted answers.

"I said that so you'd buy me a dinner and a movie instead," I said sarcastically. More sounds of disbelief. Yes, it sounded like a line, but Edward Cullen knew it was fake his gentlemanly bravado. It was typical. He was a typical pure and innocent student who had less-than-pure ulterior motives, but everyone just saw him as a pure and innocent person. Anyone else who saw his other side, kept quiet. Which I should have done before. It was too late for apologies now.

"Well I don't know who you are," he replied through a clenched jaw, almost unable to keep up with his alter-ego. "So I can't really take you out."

"Shame," I answered back and stood up. I wasn't afraid of Edward Cullen,_ please, _he was about as much as a threat as a normal house spider, easy to scare off and even easier to squish under your foot. I collected my mayonnaise- stained things and looked for the best route for a dramatic exit. Edward, of course, had to block my route to the doors in order to gain a full understand to who I was. I don't know why, but his face in my field of vision incensed me. Normally, a face like his would have made Forks worthwhile. He was like a Greek God with his chiselled features and sex hair. Too bad he achieved that look through a lot of debauchery. I tried hard to dodge around him, but he was too big and seemed to block my escape. I sighed.

"Please get out of my way," I said with a wide smile.

"Please tell me who you are," he answered back. I feigned a sigh.

"Regina Phalange," I said brightly and brushed beside him. I wondered how long it would take him to recognise the _Friends_ quote. He probably wouldn't, I mean, who liked watching _Friends_ after having sex? I wouldn't. I didn't dare turn back unless the lie was written all over my face and he'd hound me again. I quickened my pace. Actually, the quicker I would be able to get into the girls bathroom, the better. My sneakers squeaked under the wet, muddy floor. I supposed it had rained again in order to track in this much muddy water.

I opened the door to the girls' bathroom with the biggest sigh of relief. Despite saying how much I wouldn't like to be in the presence of Alice Cullen, in case she predicted something bad about me, I ran straight into her as she was applying make-up.

"Oh, Hello," she said happily. My loud entrance hadn't astounded her at all, even though I had clumsily banged the bathroom door opened. I owed it down to the fact my sneakers were loud rather than the fact she was a psychic. I'm too much of a sceptic to believe that mojo.

"You're Bella, right?" she asked with a light voice. Again, people would probably have heard I was joining today rather than her being a psychic. Well, everyone except Edward Cullen.

"Yeah, and you are?" I asked politely. Technically, I shouldn't know, I didn't want to sound like a gossip on my first day.

"Alice Cullen," she said, zipping up her purse and facing me before narrowing her baby-blue eyes, "but you already know that."

_She is not psychic_, I chanted before saying, "Sorry."

"It's-," she started but her eyes fell on my split bag and she groaned. Her eyes widened and her body started to contort, and her fingers turned very claw-like. I backed away slowly.

"What did you do to that bag?" she growled lowly, "It's a Peyton from Mulberry, how did you get it and why did you let it split?"

"What?" I asked in mild surprise. How did someone in _Forks_ know that my conspicuous little bag was a designer bag, and furthermore, had the designers really called this bag 'Peyton'? _Sweet_.

"The Peyton bag from Mulberry?" Alice asked me seriously, "Designed for Peyton Steele, not due out until winter?"

"No idea what you're talking about," I said nervously. I took a step back from Alice in fear, not only was she incredibly tiny, she was actually scary. I turned to walk out of the bathroom, completely forgetting why I had gone there in the first place. I was lost in this new school. I knew I had Biology next, but I didn't know where to go. Fate caught up with me, as the person I had been hiding from found me. Edward stormed up the corridor towards me, his asshole boxers probably in a twist.

"Regina Phalange?" Edward growled into my face, "You gave me _Phoebe Buffay's_ fake name?"

Ah, so he did catch on to the Friends quote. Or someone could have easily told him I had fake-named him. It felt good to get him riled up like that. Yet, I had no time to revel in his anger. Karma for ditching someone also caught up with me as Alice shot out of the girls' bathroom and ran toward me. She was positively beaming.

"Bella!" she called out to me. Shit, shit, shit...

"Oh! So you're Bella Swan, the new transfer," Edward muttered. His eyes seemed to glimmer with malevolent intent.

"Edward," Alice said with a smile, "You know Bella?"

Obviously she didn't know about the bomb she had just dropped. Edward had my identity, and how the ability to make my life hell. Thank you, Alice. I looked at her, trying aimlessly to find a way to assure her I was indeed Regina Phalange, but I had to accept the fact that she would know I was lying. She was a psychic and I was an incredibly bad liar. Alice's face was composed, quite unlike the face she was pulling before when she was completely obsessive with my bag. An idea sprang to my mind and I was almost sure that Edward and Alice could see the bulb light up above my head.

"Edward split my bag," I told her with a malicious smile. Alice rounded onto Edward and Edward didn't know what hit him. Unfortunately, Edward didn't know my bag was designer and Alice didn't know that my bag had been a freebie. But, as they say in the real world, what they don't know won't hurt them. I circled around them and decided to skip happily to my next lesson.

I should have known it was a bad idea. I should have known that if I wasn't on a stage or doing something as Peyton Steele, I was clumsy ol' Bella.

Edward had probably apologised to his sister and was probably on his sister's behalf, trying to apologise to me. Anyway, whatever he wanted to do, he shouldn't have. He shouldn't have grabbed onto my arm. I shouldn't have turned around. We shouldn't have been in that position on a slippery floor. He caught me off-guard and mid-air. I landed badly on my left foot and did some kind of stupid pirouette thing before falling back. I kicked out my right leg in vain hope that I could balance myself somehow. It didn't work and I crashed onto the floor, just as I heard a loud shout of pain.

Books and papers flew everywhere and I was sure I hit my funny bone on both of my elbows. My back was completely wet, but at least I didn't concuss myself as I probably would have. I sat up and saw that a large crowd was gathering around me. People were looking at me in shock. Surprise, surprise.

"No blood, no foul," I said wryly as I stood up to face them, trying to wipe my jeans clean. When I was stood up I realised that they weren't looking at me. I remembered the shout of pain I heard before I had fallen to the ground. I turned around and saw Edward Cullen on the ground. His face was screwed up in unimaginable pain. His hands were clutched tightly at his crotch.

Oh dear. What had I done now?

* * *

_Lol. This is drawn from personal experience, what happened to Edward, happened to someone in my school in real life – except the boy who was kicking the other one was a rugby player and his deliberate kick was quite forceful, which left the 'victim' shall we call in the same situation as Edward will be in chapter 4._

_And Friends. I love Friends and Phoebe and her fake name. _

_Anyway, drop a review please? (;_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer_

_Note to everyone, my wrist is healed and out of the cast! Ergo, I can type for a longer period time before I start spasming. –happydance._

* * *

**It's on**

* * *

I'm crap at sorts. If you tell me to kick a soccer ball I'd probably fall onto my back. If I aimed for someone with a dodge ball, the ball would one, miss the intended target, two, hit a wall and three, rebound and hit me instead. It's not so much of a surprise when I say that I am the last person to be picked for a team, any team, whether it was badminton (tried that, and hit myself with my racket) or tag (ever slipped and pulled someone down with you?). The big picture here is that on a good day, I have _no_ aim, _no_ balance and _no_ strength _whatsoever_.

So, the odds that I'd end up kicking Edward Cullen in the balls and actually doing any damage is probably about 0.001 percent. However, any mathematician with an ounce of common sense and ability to visualise people with a different hair colour would probably deduce that I'm not just a normal girl, I'm actually very lucky. This luck with those odds only made sure that, that is exactly what happened.

Fate is such a bitch.

At first, I thought he was bluffing so that when a teacher approached, he'd spring up and then demand that the teacher ought to give me a detention. He didn't. That was the first bad sign, especially when I noticed that he could only gag a few words to the responding teacher. The second sign was when Jacob dragged my guilty ass from the middle of the circle that surrounded Edward.

"It's not _that_ serious, is it?" I bit my lip in anxiety.

"I've been kicked there before," Jacob whispered, slowly pulling me to the edges of the small group, "but I've never looked like that."

The sound of an approaching ambulance soon rang in our ears. The third sign. Jacob and I soon got to experience first-hand unprofessionalism, where the medics were subtly trying to hide their sadism, or their grins from the hilarity of the situation. I knew, had I been in their position, I probably would have been as unprofessional as they had. Who, apart from in Forks it seems, would be able to cart someone off to the hospital because they had been kicked in the balls. The crowd parted like the Red Sea as they walked closer to us and towards Edward. It was five minutes before the medics were supporting a limping Edward back to the ambulance. His eyes were puffed up because he had been sobbing. Literally. I had reduced the supposed spawn of Satan to tears. My reward was not a gold trophy and a wreath to acknowledge my efforts - it was a harsh glare from the spawn himself. No one could deny the animosity in his puffy eyes. Everyone who had seen his glare knew that I had been behind his injury and glared at me and anyone who didn't soon did and then glared at me. I felt my cheeks heat up and Jacob tactfully led me away from the crime scene.

We probably made it to the end of the corridor before someone actually decided to take action and catch up with me.

"Are you Bella Swan?" a chirpy voice called behind me. Jacob, who had been leading me away, froze. I walked into his back and I saw how pale his face had become. I look a peek behind me and my stomach did that thing where it felt as if it was in my butt instead of where it was supposed to be. My heart pounded violently in my rib cage. Oh, God. Oh, God...

Rosalie Hale was flanked by her twin brother as well as a very, very, very muscular Emmett Cullen. I heard Jacob gulp as he, too, turned around and saw the two people stood beside Rosalie. I knew in that moment that detention was the last of my current worries. It would not be as bad as the wrath of a very strong student council president who looked as if he could _kill_ with one kick, never mind sending them to the emergency room. Like Jacob, I had found myself frozen to the spot, albeit more awkwardly. My jaw was still dropped and I was stuck in some half-twist. Rosalie walked closer to me, her blonde hair naturally doing the 'wind machine' effect that would be the envy of most models. She reached over to me and I found myself turning towards her. Damn, she was a good enchantress. Her hand reached over and unhooked Jacob's big hands from my wrist, which was in a vice-like grip. Jacob surrendered it as if it was a hot pipe. For Rosalie, it had been like taking candy from a baby – except the baby was oversized and he was ready to wet himself in fear.

She pulled my wrist in the air and I let her do it, as if I was a puppet and she was the puppeteer. She continued to move my palm so it faced her, and it was just beside me. I was sure that she was testing my reaction time, as I had to catch her punch to my face like it was one of those kung-fu movies, or I'd end up with a broken nose/ she watched me carefully with her hazel eyes before raising her hand. I couldn't suppress the flinch I had been holding back. She smirked and raised an eyebrow. I closed my eyes, awaiting the blow.

She tapped something against my palm. I opened my eyes, left one first to assess the situation, before opening my right.

"High-Five!" she said brightly, "That was for hospitalising Edward."

Emmett spluttered and looked at Rosalie in disbelief, but I was the one who asked the question that he wanted to know, "What?"

"I thought you were coming over here to scare her, _not_ congratulate her," Emmett said sulkily. From the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw Emmett hand a green bill into Jasper's waiting hand. Jasper looked neutral, as if he hadn't made a bet with Emmett and won.

"No way," Rosalie said happily, "I think she did something to benefit the world. Can't punish someone for that." She winked at me and I could feel Jacob's jaw drop. I regained control of my jaw and I closed it. That didn't stop me from staring. Nothing from the Cullen-Hale table had suggested that she held dislike for Edward. She either ignored him, or was too preoccupied to care about it.

"That's enough, Rosalie," Emmett said firmly, "Don't forget that Eddie is my brother."

"Eddie has had it coming to him for a long time," Rosalie shot back, "ask Jasper."

Emmett turned to Jasper, who shrugged, "Don't ask me, dude."

Emmett rolled his eyes and looked at me, his dark eyes were piercing as he spoke, "You're lucky that you've managed to evade punishment, but luck runs out."

I shivered and I did a double-take as he smiled and winked at me, "But good on you, Bells."

Emmett Cullen, the king of kindness, I hail your ability to change moods instantaneously.

*

The Biology teacher was not impressed that I was late for his class. I found this particularly unfair as everyone had been technically late, after the Edward debacle, but seeing as I was the last one in the class the teacher decided to pick me to throw his anger at.

"...and how many times have you heard me how I don't like to tolerate late students?" he shouted, a vein protruding slightly in his temple.

"Once, you've just told me," I said truthfully, and his face turned mauve. I handed my attendance slip to him and he processed it. Within seconds, he turned to a normal colour.

"Bella Swan, the one who got Edward Cullen in the hospital?" he asked through his glasses with particular interest.

"Is that what people are calling me now?" I asked and he nodded with a smirk. He pointed towards an empty desk and instructed me to sit there. I walked to the desk he had pointed at and I could feel the daggers stabbing into me.

Fan-bloody-tastic. At least if I ever wanted to be hated everywhere I went, I knew how to do it. Kick the balls of the alpha male and pray to God that I end up hospitalising them.

*

After all the luck I had been through today, which had been quite a lot, I guessed I was pretty lucky that the Gym teacher said I didn't have to do Gym class He gave me a gym uniform, smirked and told me to watch. I just hoped he kept the same attitude throughout every Gym class, because I don't think I could handle, what is it they were doing? My eternal nemesis. Volleyball. I could remember the multitude of charity games I had to play and how it always led to volleyball. My team usually told me to stand at the back whilst they did all the work. This worked out for me, until the ball came careering my way and ready to inflict an injury.

Those were the famous days I didn't miss.

The days I did miss were being able to sit and observe four simultaneous games going at the same time and not being hit in the face by the large rubber ball. Sixteen times in an hour. Possibly a record and a broken nose. It felt funny when I pressed it lightly and I could see that the Gym teacher didn't do anything to prevent this obvious lash of bullying on my end. I grumbled under my breath. I knew that I had to act normal, but if my face was bruised I could hire an expensive lawyer for a lawsuit couldn't –

_Thwack! _

The ball went straight for my forehead and the impact made me move my head back and I slammed it on the bench behind me. Finally, the Gym teacher had enough sense to actually do something and blow the whistle before coming over to me. I could hear faint snickers and appreciative shouts from the far end of the Gym hall. I sat up, trying not to let the tears fall down my face that I was holding in. But it bloody hurt. Damn it. I could feel an ache rise from my neck to my head and I bit my lip to stop myself from bursting into tears. The situation was embarrassing enough.

"Swan, you good?" The coach asked about fifteen yards away from where I was sitting. I nodded curtly, determined not to show anyone a sign of weakness. Not even for a single moment. The coach blew his whistle and the games resumed.

This time the games got even faster and furious in a determination to cause me as much harm as possible. After hit number seventeen, I wasn't taking any chances and I tried to duck and dodge as many of them as I could. It worked but as the bell rang I received hit number 18. However, this wasn't as bad. I had already stood up and the ball struck me in the stomach. I keeled over in pain, but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. I was given the privilege of greater pain in the stomach area when my genes decided to make me into a girl. I stormed out of the Gym feeling thoroughly battered and bruised and I had to make my way across the school to the main office where Jacob said he'd pick me up. It was pretty early so I could avoid all the glares and hateful stares.

Before I reached the office, I heard a slow hum. It picked up slightly and I could feel a vibration in my front pocket. My phone. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone and answered it with confusion.

"Mom?"

"Bells-how-first-day-Forks-School?" a babbling voice gushed from the other line.

"Slow down," I asked her and I could hear her inhaling and exhaling.

"How was your first day at Forks High School?" she asked as calmly and motherly as she could muster.

"Well, it started off great, but then I accidentally kicked somebody in the crotch so then they got hospitalised and I'm public enemy number one," I summarised for her. I could hear faint gasping and sniggering in the background as she repeated what I said to Phil.

"Bella, what am I going to do with you?" she sighed.

"Let me come back and start afresh?" I asked with a little hope in my voice. My hope might as well have been dead because she replied with a, "Good one."

Oh yes, Renee. I could say that about your mothering tactics. Now you wanted to become a mother and try and order me about? Good one.

"Well, you could try and visit the poor boy in the hospital," Renee offered. I bit back my laugh. Good one.

"And get kicked out, no thanks," I answered back.

"And get to know this boy better," Renee corrected me. Good one.

"Who knows, maybe you'll get yourself a boyfriend and you'll want to stay in Forks," she said dreamily.

I couldn't hold it back any longer, I had to say, "Good one."

The next thing I heard was the dial tone as she hung up. I smiled as I looked at my phone whilst _pulling_ the office door open.

She had a point, except I didn't know how he'd react when I appeared there...

* * *

_Don't forget, this is can actually happen – do not question my 'out-of-the-box imagination' this actually happened to a boy in my year. This arc is mainly based around true events, so yeah._

_Love, bexx. _

_PS. The lad that this happened to? He's fine now, he just doesn't antagonise the lad that ended up hospitalising them. _


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. _

* * *

**Is your punch line just a joke?**

* * *

Jacob gave me a funny look when I asked him where I wanted to go, but he took me there anyway. So here I was. In the bleak Forks Hospital, carrying a lousy bunch of flowers and on my way to visit someone who I had been running away before. Kind of ironic in the most sadistic way possible. It was kind of knowing that you were walking straight into trouble, but knowing that it was common courtesy in a way. It was disheartening, to say the least, but it had to be done. I had asked the nurse what room he was staying in, and she had cracked a smile and snickered as she told me his room number. Only people in Forks would find a simple matter of a severe pain in the crotch was amusing. Then again, as the nurses' computer screen had said, they suspected that his testicles had swollen slightly from where I had accidentally kicked them. Ouch. I knew that I had to suck it up, he must have been in real pain. I had to realise that this was real life, and I couldn't blame some diva fit. I had to act normal and do the right thing, even though it was predominantly an accident. I had to make sure he was okay. At least for conscience's sake.

Renee would be so proud of me.

I hesitated outside Edward's room, 666, this couldn't be _just_ a coincidence. There had to be some kind of funny mistake. I peered inside just to check and I could see the back of a patient on the bed, with bronze hair. I sighed. It would seem that _he _would have that room, coincidence or otherwise.I stepped in the doorway and knocked slightly. The patient turned to me, glared and said,

"What are you doing here?"

Despite the hatred in his voice, I could see his hand cupping his crotch protectively. Nice to know he was actually scared of me.

"Visiting," I replied holding up the flowers I had bought in the gift shop on the ground floor.

"I'm allergic to pollen," he said acerbically, not once taking his eyes off me. I knew it was a lie, but I still chucked the two-dollar bouquet in the trash can in his private room.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, trying hard not to say it insincerely, as I turned to face him again.

"Oh, _that_, you're sorry about," Edward said trying to make a point. I tried hard not to roll my eyes.

"Well, of course, I'm sorry about, _your injury_ too," I said, stumbling my words, unable to get the words out quick enough and unable to sound at least apologetic.

"Well, for the first thing, apology accepted, you couldn't have known," Edward said curtly before saying with an odd look, "but for the second thing, apology not accepted."

"You know it was an accident," I growled. He looked at me with a wicked grin.

"Well, what you know is completely different to what I know," he said smugly, "all I know is that I was only trying to apologise to you for breaking your bag."

I blanched. I could feel my cheeks draining of colour just as he said the words.

"You wouldn't," I said, moreorless trying to convince myself than intimidate him.

"I would," he said as sweetly as he could, "isn't it something a _wanker_ does?"

I was about to say something even ruder to describe his actions when a doctor walked in. My eyes widened, because I didn't know there were any doctors like that in Los Angeles, and that city was full of pretty people. This particular doctor was tall, statuesque and he was blonde. And I think, if possible, completely edible. I think my mouth dropped open too. He was possibly the hottest doctor I have ever met in my eighteen-years of living. Believe me, I've seen my fair share of hot doctors in my time as Peyton Steele, and none of them had a patch on this doctor. He was the type of doctor who you would write, "yes please" in the sex part of the application. I felt an arm pull me back, distracting me from my inappropriate fantasies. I suddenly heard a voice in my ear.

"Please stop eye-fucking my father."

I snapped out of the hypnotic aura that surrounded the doctor. I looked at him to Edward. Then at him again. Only one question was formed in my mind. How had _he_ procreated, _that_? Either he had a really sadistic wife who had passed on the personality traits, or he was really unfortunate that his son turned out so evil. I went for the second option, because if his wife wasn't somewhat a model and kind, then I bet all the nurses in the hospital would create a line as long as the diameter of the Earth to get him to divorce her and ask him to marry them instead.

"Edward, I didn't know you accepted visitors," the man said jovially, he didn't look like a father. He looks hard to pass as 21, let alone 40-something. I wondered if he still got asked for ID in bars.

"I'm Bella, I accidentally got Edward here," I explained. Mr. Cullen smirked as he checked something in Edward's clipboard before looking at me with no trace that he thought anything about Edward's situation funny. He raised an eyebrow. At that point, I realised that Edward was indeed-y Mr. Cullen's son, there was no way the eyebrow raise could be so exact, if not inherited. He asked me one question.

"How?"

"Edward broke my bag, it's really exclusive and a friend gave it to me," I gushed, "I was really upset and I kind of slipped and kicked him in the you-know-what's."

No matter how much of a doctor he was and how professional he was and how much medical school he had went to and how familiar he was with the anatomy of the body, I couldn't bring myself to say 'genitals' or words to that effect. He was Edward's father first, a doctor second. And he was really hot.

"I think I remember Alice telling me Edward deserved what he got," Mr. Cullen pondered before saying with a smile that should be illegal when there is an abundance of oestrogen around, "Thanks, Bella. Edward's never had to stay at the hospital before, he's usually so careful and he holes in his room at home, now I get to have some quality time with my son."

Edward looked at me with such hate at that moment, I was sure that my neck was going to slit open. I bet Mr. Cullen's idea of quality time was much, much, much, worse than being hospitalised.

Or so, in Edward's perspective.

In my perspective, I couldn't think of anything else I would do with the good doctor apart from _quality time_.

I checked with reality again and realised I was a third-wheel in the father-son scenario. I took advantage of the situation I said with a grin, "Well, I'll leave you to your quality time."

I winked at Edward before making a quick exit. I could feel him trying to pull me back into his room, as if he had the power of telekinesis, his hate and rage was able to persuade me back into that room. I hummed tunefully as I walked down the corridor, bathing in a pit of my own smugness.

*

The next day was better and worse.

Better in the fact that Edward Cullen wasn't there to make my life miserable. Worse in the fact that everyone else in the school was there to do it for him. In my first lesson, I had been thoroughly ignored and secluded. In some ways, I liked this. There was no one on my lonely table to distract me from the assignments. In other ways, it meant that I was an easy target for everyone to pick on. I think I had paper thrown on me and several spit balls in my hair. Then the whispers. Some boys were convinced that I'd screw them, some were convinced I _had_ screwed them. Girls thought I had done the deed at least ten times, and probably already had done it with some fellow classmates.

There had to be something wrong with the water. Or they had overly-dysfunctional brains. Simple calculations on their part would have realised that I had only been in town two days and had only met them yesterday. If you calculated that it was also a school night, it would mean that I would have been a very busy bee.

Teachers didn't pick on me as much. They probably disliked Edward as much as I did, but they couldn't show it. If they did, they would be the next target.

Jessica Stanley, who had generously offered me a seat next to her in Spanish, showed me I was no longer welcome next to her and she had obviously rescinded any inclination she wanted to sit next to me in the next lesson and at lunch as well. I could tell from the way that the books were strewn over what had been my side of the desk that I had to sit at the back. I rolled my eyes at her immaturity. At least I knew where I was sitting on the Forks High plane. The place where they store the crap.

Could be worse, the second-class passengers could have pushed me off their plane.

I didn't know how I made it to lunch, after the Spanish and Trigonometry lesson I had. Either way, I was glad to be out of those classes. Anymore cosine rule and hablamos and I would have been hab-out-of-there. Jacob had told be with utmost confidence during our carpool this morning that I was allowed to sit with him at lunch, no matter how unpopular I may be. After sinking to new levels, I doubted his offer would hold up. I could barely wait in the line and considered skiving off school too many times. I was so anxious about the whole debacle that I only bought an apple and I looked at the sea of tables in the cafeteria.

Silence blanketed the entire room as everyone gave me a mutinous glare. _Jeez_, I thought, _all I did was accidentally kick someone in the balls, was that a felony?_ Apparently it was.

Jacob looked at me suggestively and the people around him smiled at me, and all my previous fears that I'd have to spend the rest of the year eating apples in the nearby forest were gone. I walked without a care to their table where they greeted me heartily, and whispered 'get in there, Swan' like what I had done was a favour for them. That's when I realised that I didn't need the approval of everyone else in the school – all that really mattered to me were what true friends like Jacob and Leah thought of me. Screw the rest.

"Uh, Bella?" a small voice said behind me, I turned to see Alice Cullen staring at me with her brown doe-like eyes staring creepily at me.

"Yes?"

"I-just-want-you-to-know-that-I-know-what-happened-with-you-and-Edward-was-a-complete-accident-and-he-completely-deserved-it-!" she said in one breath, and so quick that I had to replay it in my head and slow it down by a half to understand it. I nodded.

"Can I sit here?" she asked and the others on the table gasped. I guess it wasn't everyday where a first-class passenger sat with the hold people.

"It's not my place to say," I replied as humble as I could. I looked around the table and I saw the same expressions on everyone's faces. Awe and agreement. Alice could probably tell for herself for their expressions meant and took a seat beside me.

"Do you mind if a few of my friends sat here too?" she asked the table. Embry gulped. Quil looked as if he was about to burst with shock. Jacob and Leah were the only two composed ones, but I could hear the cogs in Leah's mind work. She wanted to know what the heck was up with Alice Cullen and what motives she had. Frankly, so did I. Leah looked at me, and she nodded which Alice saw. Alice turned around and she nodded at some people in the distance and I could see who she had meant by friends.

The remaining Cullen and the Hales.

"Bella!" Rosalie said, hugging me even though she had to crouch a little because I was sitting down.

"Rosalie, what a surprise," I choked.

"Just so you know, I don't want to sit here, but because Rose wants it I will," Emmett said, eyeing my cautiously.

"Emmett!" Alice and Rosalie said simultaneously.

"I was _joking_, I'm just a little afraid of Bella at the moment," Emmett explained, "you see, Carlisle is kind of counting on me to give him the grandchildren, seeing was Edward is now...as one would say, incompetent."

Jacob spat out his water across the table. He also went bright red. I couldn't help it but I started laughing. I didn't know what compelled me to do it, but seeing Jacob looking so embarrassed, Jasper (who had been the main victim in spittingwatergate) look so disgusted and all the bad things that happened to me today, I let it all out. Leah looked at me for a second and she cracked a smile. Emmett's reaction when he saw Jasper was the funniest. Emmett has the most infectious laugh in the universe. Soon, everyone at our table was laughing.

Around us, the school looked on with interest. Jessica Stanley, the girl who ignored unpopular people, had her mouth so wide open she could catch flies. A girl next to her with platinum blonde hair was almost green with envy. I looked away from them, it was their unlucky day and karma was on my side. For once.

_Love is just another four-lettered word, so it doesn't mean anything..._

Or maybe not. My phone was ringing and blaring out to anyone in the vicinity. I read the caller ID. _Tanya again._ I ignored the call and put it on silent so I wouldn't attract any attention with my calls.

"Was that Peyton Steele?" Quil asked, raising an eyebrow. I gulped.

"Uh, yeah," I blushed. Okay, it was a little vain to have yourself as your ringtone, but I loved the message that the song gave, and yes, it is very vain to say so but I love how my voice sounds in it and the guitar solo in it. Not that anyone cared about the meaning of the words or the guitar solo that I had spent far too long perfecting.

"Wow, exterior hard Bella likes Peyton Steele," Leah pondered aloud and Jacob rolled his eyes and looked at me. Alice was looking at me, oddly. Her face was in a weird expression and I couldn't help but wonder what the heck she was thinking.

"Who doesn't like Peyton Steele? She's hot!" Quil told her and I couldn't help the reflex to blush.

"Quil, shut up," I muttered.

"He has a point," Jasper said, no longer disgusted by having water and Jacob's saliva over his grey T-shirt, "plus, she's an amazing guitarist, that song you have for your ringtone "Ain't got any love for you" shows it as well."

Alice was looking at me more intently now, and I could feel sweat forming on my guilty face. I could hear her thoughts transitioning into some sort of theory. I also felt my phone vibrating, and I knew that Tanya would not stop calling me until I picked up. Plus, my phone was too important to have confiscated.

"Excuse me, I have to take a call," I told the people at my table and I pulled the phone out of my pocket. My suspicions were confirmed and I sped out of the cafeteria to the nearest toilets. I tried not to wince in that painful memory of walking down this corridor and kicking someone in the crotch. At least the floor wasn't so wet anymore. I locked myself in a cubicle and hastily whispered, "Hey, girlfriend," into it.

"Peyton, you're missing everything!" Tanya hissed down the phone.

"Like what?"

"Parties, after-parties, and you will not believe who asked me out," she said excitedly down the phone.

"Who?" I asked half-interestedly. Tanya was notorious with her men and it shouldn't have surprised me that she had a new fling. It didn't.

"James, he's totally gorgeous, you have to come and meet him." My hand froze on the handset.

"James...as in James Port?" I asked nervously.

"That one," she said but then she must have realised, "look, I know you two dated, but that was ages ago."

"He is a renowned cheater," I warned.

"Yeah, but that woman he keeps going back to... Vicky? She's in rehab in Europe," Tanya explained.

"I have to go, damn beavers," I lied quickly and I hung up on her.

I knew Tanya wouldn't ring me back. She had already told me everything that she wanted me to know and she probably wanted to rub it in more that she was dating my ex-boyfriend. Like most things remind us: _once a cheater, always a cheater_. There was no way that James Port had changed and even if his affair lady of choice had skipped town, there wasn't a doubt in my mind he would find another one of his whores to satisfy him in ways that Tanya couldn't. Good on him. I flushed the toilets, even though I didn't do anything, so I didn't look unhygienic to an unknown passerby. I followed though the act by walking over to the taps to wash my hands.

"You know James Port?" a voice called, I froze and the hot water splashed onto my hands.

"No," I replied after a few seconds pause, I started to rub my hands again and looked at the reflection of the person who was stood behind me. Alice.

"Do you know who dated James Port last year?" she asked inquisitively.

"Nope," I replied.

"Peyton Steele did," Alice said, not once taking her unblinking eyes off me.

"And you're telling me because..."

"I think that you're Peyton Steele."

* * *

_Haha, at some point SOMEONE was bound to find out. I picked Alice because I think she's incredibly intuitive as well as psychic. _

_The chapter name comes from the Lady Gaga song, "Speechless", which I'm currently addicted to as I write in my newly found free time, oh, the perks of being single. _

_But that free time is rapidly being used up revision for my big exams, and I am ready for school to finish for the Easter Holidays. Plus, I have 18 weeks left in school until I finish secondary school and have to attend prom, and I'm an anti-prom person. I do not want to have to spend time with some of the people that have treated me like crap for the past year or so and as for the people that don't, I will keep in contact with anyway. _

_Sorry for my little rant, drop a little rant of your own, or commonly known as a review?_


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. _

* * *

**Oh boy, you've left me speechless.**

* * *

"Well?" She waited for an answer, whilst tapping her foot against the tiled floor. The hot water continued to splash my scorched skin. I was suddenly conscious of the fact that all the soap had been washed away and I slowly turned the tap off. A gush of cold breeze rushed over to my soaking hands and goose pimples began to form. I gulped as I thought of an answer. Anything would suffice to throw her off.

"Jeez," I laughed in a hollow sort of way, "Do I look blonde?"

Well that was the most obvious difference between us.

"Wigs would solve that problem," Alice said unnerved by my question, "and even as a brunette you have an uncanny resemblance to Peyton when she was in a music video with her hair brown."

Damn, she was observant. I had forgotten that I had used my brunette hair for a music video. That had been once. Also it had been a long time ago.

"I am a fan," Alice said sheepishly." I shrugged and shot her with another point.

"I can't carry a tune to save my life." It was another thing that validated my point, Bella didn't have the confidence to sing in front of large audiences and when she did it came out horse. However, Peyton did. I became a whole different person when I was Peyton - I just wished I had made our personalities polar opposites a little bit more.

"Bella or Peyton, don't give me that crap," Alice warned," give me a little more credit."

I sighed. So far, the only person who knew my secret was Jacob and I had known Jacob forever. Alice Cullen on the other hand, I had just met, and she was the sister of this boy I had hospitalised. There was also the slight chance she would blab to him.

"Look," Alice said crossing her arms and leaning against the cubicle door," I don't mind if you don't tell me, I wouldn't tell a complete stranger something as personal as that."

I stared at her honesty, I didn't know what expression was on my face but I knew the words that I said to her, "What makes you so sure?"

Alice smiled at that. "Like I said, give me some credit," she replied," that bag '_the Peyton' _is only available to Peyton Steele herself - but I realised that you could be friends with her so I pretty much gave up on that theory."

"So what made you think otherwise?" I persisted

"I saw your reaction when the boys called Peyton Steele hot, I mean, I've seen you embarrassed - especially when you hurt Eddie but you were even more even more embarrassed today at the lunch table."

"And your assumption is based on simple embarrassment?" I asked her sceptically. She wasn't even ruffled by that question - as if she was completely expecting it. Damn it, she was a psychic! Of course, she knew it was coming! She also knew that I'd be lying too. I tried not to show on my face my epiphany but I could tell that in one way or another she had found out.

"Yes, but after your rather sudden departure, I had to follow you," Alice said with a bright smile, "and then you mentioned a Tanya who I assume is your best friend, Tanya DeMarchols, and I read on Twitter she was dating James Port and I put two and two together."

Or, you're incredibly psychic. There was no denying it. I knew that after Alice had this suspicion that she would dog me until I revealed the truth. She would stalk me and point out how simply humming made me Peyton Steele. If I said something that I had said before in a newspaper article, Alice the self-confessed rabid fan, would recall it and say that I was Peyton Steele for that verbatim. I knew exactly what she would do because I had been through this before - Jacob is just as intuitive as Alice was. That would mean that I would break and tell her. That would mean she would know in the foreseeable future. Actually, she already knew. I wished I gave psychics more credit that I had before. I sighed and I knew I had to cave. There was no other way. Not if I wanted to be stalked for this entire year, and then have Alice say, "_Look! You're leaving just as Peyton Steele is finishing her hiatus! That isn't a coincidence!"_

And I couldn't play up the Peyton Steele. I couldn't be at two places at the same time. The answer I had for her was already formed in my mind.

"If you tell anyone you will feel the wrath of overpriced lawyers, got it," I tried to threaten. I knew my threat was weak, but it got to her.

"I would never, I swear, I wouldn't tell Bella!" she insisted before crumpling her face and asking quietly," You're name is Bella isn't it?"

"Yeah, Peyton Steele is just a pseudonym," I told her, "but I'm still her."

"That's-that's unbelievable!" Alice whispered, unable to let herself believe what she had figured out herself and what I had verified for her. She composed herself and the asked, "Why Forks? Why spend your year long hiatus in Fork?"

I had to get used to this, answering questions about why I was here and why Forks in the first place. I was sure Alice had hundreds of questions to ask me. I told her about the paparazzi incident and my mother's reaction when she saw the papers slandering my actions. She snickered and muttered," I should have guessed," under her breath.

"Well it's not as if it's a bad thing here in Forks," I said trying to be as serious as I could. Alice gave me a look that broke me through my resolve and I rolled my eyes, "Oh, who am I kidding? LA is so much better than here."

"Amen." Alice added appreciatively. Her expression changed suddenly that I was reminded of Emmet. Jeez, how many quirks could the Cullens inherit from their parents? I don't even want to think about Edward changing his mind so rapidly. Well, I had an example of this and it showed Edward used this as a way of committing his un-doubtable evil.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly. I just hoped that Alice wasn't going to say that whilst Alice is psychic Edward is a mind-reader because that would make keeping a secret a lot less easier.

"I'm just sad about your bag," Alice said sadly, something that really threw me off, I had expected something totally different instead of the bag that Edward had accidentally broken," I know that how much Edward said he could replace it but he really can't unless he's you."

"Aw shucks," I replied modestly, "I'd rather vomit in it than keep it if Eddie bought it."

It was true and Alice knew it. This in turn made Alice smiled weakly but it didn't reach her eyes. The bell rang signalling the end of lunch. I stuck my hands into my jean pockets and I walked out of the bathroom but not before throwing my hair over my shoulder and looking back at Alice, who had watched me walk casually out, and saying, "By the way, Tanya DeMarchols is not and will never be my best friend."

*

I knew that the events at lunch were too good to last. Even thought it was clear the Quileute's and I had been accepted by Forks high royalty, it meant more people resented us for it. Rosalie's hug may seem like a popularity booster for me on the outside but it made the boys in my biology class jealous and the girls were just plain envious. It was lucky for them that I didn't share any of my classes with Rosalie because it meant that they could do as they pleased. I didn't know for sure how the Quileute's were doing, but it couldn't be as bad as me. The people already had unrestrained hatred for me, why should it change? Either way, I didn't really care - I only had one year here and I could always tell the press where I really was- and see their horrified faces as they realised who I really was.

It was a sadist way to look at it, to be truthfully honest. Well they kind of deserved it - especially after this volleyball match where I was being hit repeatedly by my own team. By the time the gym teachers had told us to wrap it up and get changed, pink ball prints were forming on my pale arms. I pressed a particularly red one and winced as my fingers came in contact with the squishy bit of stinging skin. I tried not to grind my teeth in anger and give the others the satisfaction of causing me pain. I had bigger fish to fry. For example, like trying getting changed in the locker room. As this was the first time I had gotten changed in the girls' locker room, I was nervous. Not because I was going to reveal my half-naked self to a locker room filled with other girls, I had exposed my half-naked self before in front of designers and whatnot because if you're backstage on outfitting changing concert tour is pretty much like backstage of a fashion show, it was because these girls were spiteful and were probably going to note down every single flaw that I had and then start queuing outside Edward's hospital room to tell him about them. If they didn't have a pen to do it, they'd go as far to use their own blood. Yet, it was something that I had to do. I couldn't dither at the doorway and let the boys give me strange looks. I took a deep breath and walked inside...

*

"Jeez, you took your time," Jacob complained as I threw my bag (I had learned my lesson, no more designer bags, strictly anything I could buy for less than fifty dollars in Forks) in the back of the truck so hard that it clanged loudly against the metal. I wrenched the door open, so that had it been a flimsy car instead of the thick iron it was, the door would have fell apart on me. I jumped into the car, angrily, which Jacob could tell because he didn't say anything to admonish me for attempting to damage his car. He took my expression in with one look and then processed it quietly as he put the key in ignition.

"You look like hell."

"Ever had your clothes stolen?" I growled in response and I opened the only item of clothing that I had been left because I had locked it in my gym locker, my anorak, and showed him the mismatched clothing I had gotten from lost property. He sucked in breath as he reversed but said nothing because I was past consolable. I was on the brink of murder.

"I am never showering again after Gym," I said through my clenched teeth, "I think you and I could stand any body odour for the time it takes to drop me off."

"Wow," Jacob said exhaling loudly, "I've never seen the coop so riled up."

"Are you calling me their new project?"

"Well, you _did_ make yourself a target when you slipped, tripped and kicked Edward in the -," Jacob whistled to tell me exactly where I had kicked Edward. I rolled my eyes. Only Jacob could say something that would cut the tension and calm me down slightly.

"Normal people would get over it," I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"Bells, are you sure that your brain is functioning properly?" Jacob asked. I punched his arm lightly and nodded indignantly. Jacob cleared his throat and said,

"What evidence have you had that people who live in Forks – and do not forget that I live on the Reservation – are normal?"

As much as I hated to admit it, he was kind of right.

* * *

_I know some of you may be thinking that there's too much of a lack of Edward...mhm, we'll see about that. _

_Chapter reference, from the same song as last – Speechless by Lady Gaga. I don't have an obsession with that song, it just fits with the chapter. It's still a good song though. _

_I have to finish off Chapter 7 which is going excellently. I might update it tomorrow if I'm not swamped with homework and I can be bothered to finish it off. I'm not into begging for reviews and stuff, but it would literally make my day if I reached 50 by tomorrow, so much so, I'd probably update tomorrow. _

_Love, bexx. _


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. _

* * *

**Past the point of no return**

* * *

Wednesday and Thursday were not as exciting as my first two days at Forks High much to my chagrin. I had prepared myself for any attack that came my way. I had carried an extra large bag where I could carry an extra set of clothes which I locked in my gym locker so there was no chance that anybody would be able to steal them. The downside to this however, was that nothing happened. No one stole my clothes. No one let me get hit in volleyball (which was a refreshing change. People seemed to notice I was really _bad_ at the damned sport and they made me stand at the back so I spent that whole period just standing). No one hissed behind my back anymore, so I guessed that news that Edward was in the hospital had died down. No one seemed to care that the Cullens and the Hales were sitting at our table and acted out like it. If it was any consolation, when I dropped a pile paper, Jessica Stanley actually helped me pick it up. All seemed like bliss.

Until Friday.

That Friday will always be marked as the day that my exuberant peace was interrupted by the loud reality foghorn.

"Good morning, Isabella," a musical voice greeted right behind me. I froze to the spot and my breath caught as I recognised the voice.

"So, you're back," I said tentatively. There was a sinister chuckle and I heard footsteps as the person walked in front of me to block the path to my next lesson. I tried very, very hard not to look up from the ground where his shoes were. His shiny shoes, I tried to focus on that instead of the situation I was in. Oh, and I was late for my first lesson.

"What? No welcome back? No good morning? No "sorry for making you suffer four days worth of hospital treatment?"

My snapped my gaze up to meet his at that. Damn, I had forgotten the power of his emerald eyes.

"You know it wasn't my fault, so stop pinning it on me," I warned.

"True," he shrugged, "but it was your intentional fault that I had to spend quality time with my father," he bent slightly so that his nose was inches from mine and he tapped it gently, "that was a sneaky move."

I didn't even try to move my head back. I was just putting all of my willpower into keeping my eyes locked on his because his lips were dangerously close to mine and I could smell the toothpaste that he had used that morning.

"What is so wrong about quality time with Dr. Cullen?" I asked, genuinely confused and unable to fathom why he hated being with his father so much. He jerked his head back and for a second I was sad that his face wasn't in my personal space. I pinched myself to return back to reality.

"Of course, he's charming when he wants to be," Edward said airily, "and I guess hospitalising me wasn't such a bad thing I mean, there were a _lot _of pretty nurses."

I raised an eyebrow. I had to admit it, he was literally shameless. Swollen testicle or not, he was still a malevolent womanizer. I brushed past him, unable to take anymore of his bullshit. Plus, I was cutting into my English lesson a little too finely.

What stopped me was the fact I could hear his footsteps behind me, following me relentlessly. When I stopped, his stopped. When I started again, his would start again. I took a peek behind me and he was still there, grinning like a Cheshire cat with nothing better to do. I turned around and put my hands on my hips.

"If I throw a stick, will you go?" I asked and he chuckled slightly. He ran a suave hand through his high-maintenance hair and ruffling it so it resembled somewhat more of sex hair than just standard styled, messy hair.

"Oh, simple Isabella," he said, "I have English right now."

My mouth fell open involuntarily and my cockily placed arms fell flaccidly beside me, "You-You don't have this period English," I said trying to win a defeated argument, "if you did then I would have seen you on that-that-that day," I cleared my throat and willed myself not to make my voice tremble so badly, "on my first day."

"Well, I decided to change classes," he said with a crooked smile that would break many teenaged hearts. Actually, it already did.

"And, we're a bit late," he said, pushing past me and walking off. I turned, watching him walk past me. He seemed to be able to see me turn from the corner of his eye and he stopped and did a complete one-eighty. He winked at me before placing his hands on either side of my head. He then effectively rubbed my hair in a fashion that one would rub a balloon against their sweater in order to get static electricity. When he had finished my hair was a mess, and I glared at him for it – because he had no right to do that! Plus, I didn't know what possessed him in order for him to do that.

"Well, time for English, Isabella," he sang turning around and stuffing his hands into his pockets. I clenched my fists. He had gone one step too far now.

"Don't. Call. Me. Isabella."

"Or you'll what?" he called, not looking even behind him, and despite being in hospital because of me, he wasn't the least bit afraid. It made _me_ afraid slightly that he wasn't afraid of me anymore. I was slowly becoming a statistic, one of Edward Cullen's victims.

"Make you suffer pain than you already have?" I questioned more than threatened.

"Not possible," he said, tilting his head and turning it slightly so that I only could see a profile. I could see half a wicked smile.

"Well, I could always suggest to your father to go on a hiking trip for some quality time," I shot at him in vain. It kind of worked because he recoiled slightly before recovering and saying,

"Doesn't bother me, I get too much exercise anyway."

If I was holding something extremely hard like an iron rod, I was pretty sure that it would be dust in my clenched fists. My knuckles were raw with pain. If Edward could read my mind and see how much I wanted to throttle him in my clenched fists, he was nonchalant about it. He just simply walked towards the English classroom door and leant on the door knob, clearly waiting for me to catch up with him.

_What was he up to now?_

When I eventually was literally behind him, he opened the door tactfully so that he would stumble into the classroom. He looked flustered, as far as I could tell from behind him, and I heard a teacher ask, "Mr. Cullen, are you mistaken for what class you are meant to be in at the moment?"

"Nope," he said, turning back at me and winking, "I changed classes."

I heard the teacher mutter and tell Edward to take a seat promptly. He was actually about to close the door in annoyance because Edward hadn't closed it for him, before he saw me. He looked at me and seemed to analyse me and then he turned to Edward and his face slowly reddened. Oh God. He moved, giving me enough room to walk in the classroom. I felt my face redden. Then the teacher said it. Loudly.

"Mr. Cullen and Miss. Swan, if you want to do anything privately, my lesson is not the time to do it."

Snickers were met with horrified gasps. I glared at Edward.

_So that's what he wanted_, I thought angrily at myself, _to humiliate me_. I swallowed down the growl and I walked as serenely as I could to my desk where I was no longer sitting alone at. Great. Edward would have to sit next to me for this period and next to me in lessons after this. I dragged the chair next to him back loudly, letting him know how angry I was with him. To be completely truthful, I was even madder at myself for letting him get under my skin. I knew that this would be Edward's tactics, to try and punish me.

Except, what action had been worthy of a punishment that included purposeful leg-brushing and innocently looking at me when I glared at him every time he did it?

*

"Edward," Alice said, shivering. Despite Edward's return Alice remained at our table. Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett were also sitting here. Emmett was reluctant but he only sat here because Rosalie wanted him to. _Now, that's dedication_. That didn't stop Emmett giving his brother furtive looks as Edward sat alone at what had been _their _table.

"He's going too far," Rosalie agreed. She turned to give Edward a look that would make a normal person wish they could curl up and die, there and then. Edward was immune to those type of emotions because he rolled his eyes and mouthed, 'bite me' at her. She crossed her arms in fury as she returned her gaze back to the vicinity.

"I think we should teach _him_ a lesson," Leah said piping up. Rosalie looked at her and their eyes lit up. If there was anything that those two had in common it was revenge. Well, Leah wasn't as fierce as Rosalie, but you didn't want to get on Leah's bad side. When I had told her about the clothing stealing incident she had went on a rampage, she had so many ideas, that only Jacob could calm her down and not make her think like that.

"What are you thinking of, Leah?" Rosalie asked and her hazel eyes were alight with something more that curiosity. It was something you saw in mad scientists. Insanity. I guessed Rosalie didn't like losing out to Edward.

"Well, there is the Halloween party coming up," Leah told her and Rosalie gasped.

"Make him fall in love with Bella and then rip it away from him?" Rosalie answered and Leah nodded animatedly.

"You guys, you know that only works in movies right?" Embry interrupted.

"No guy falls in love with the girl that easily," Quil added, "and no offense intended, Bella, but you have to be really _hot_ in order for that to work."

Rosalie gave them a look and Quil and Embry looked as if they wanted to dig a pit and live in it.

"By hot," Alice said with her expression calculating, "would you include Peyton Steele?"

Quil and Embry seemed to be able to poke out of their self-loathing pits and they smirked. Emmett whistled to not show how he felt in case it upset Rosalie. Jasper wasn't as bothered as he had been a few days before, he was simply engrossed in stroking Alice's hand. It made me feel a pang of jealousy. I wanted a Jasper. Jacob simply froze next to me. I had told Jacob about how Alice had figured it out, but he didn't expect Peyton Steele to guest star in any of our forthcoming conversations. I could tell that he as incredibly mad that I had told Alice, although I will always stand by my conviction that Alice had figured it out.

"As if!" Quil blurted out and immediately cutting the tension at the table by a tenfold.

"I'm being serious," Alice muttered, "would that work?"

Jasper stood up at this and walked back to the table where Edward was sitting at. It was an action that surprised everyone. Alice's mouth fell open and everyone stared at each other. Emmett looked surprised of all, and we all thought that if anyone was going to walk away it would be Emmett. We were all thinking the same question: _why had Jasper randomly gone back to Edward's table?_

Fortunately we had someone who could answer that.

"He's gone back to subtly ask," Rosalie muttered, "just watch."

Everyone's attention shifted from Rosalie back to Jasper who looked thoroughly bored and his mouth opened and closed. Edward looked smugly at his sister for a second, but he listened to what Jasper was saying. His expression drastically changed and he looked furious. He then was pushing Jasper away and Jasper looked shocked and slouched back to our table.

"If I had an Oscar you would be the one to get it, brother," Rosalie said, clapping under the table so Edward couldn't see.

"What did he say?" Leah asked, cutting to the chase.

"Well, I told him that you guys were all talking about Peyton Steele and how she wasn't even that good _or_ hot," Jasper shrugged, "he told me to 'shut the eff up' and that he doesn't understand what true beauty is and that if he could he would 'shag her to heaven and back' before telling me to get the eff away from him and go back to his sister."

I felt repulsed and nausea seemed to ooze out of my every pore. Jacob had put a protective hand over mine and looked at me with concern. He turned and narrowed his eyes at Alice for suggesting something that would make me feel this way.

"So, in essence if we _could_ get Peyton Steele, it could work," Embry sighed, "but she's on a hiatus."

"I know someone who knows her," Alice said briskly, "maybe we could book her for the Halloween party."

"And how do we know that she'll do it?" Emmett asked as the complete voice of reason at our table, "she could totally object to the idea if she wanted."

"She won't do it," I spoke up. For the first time this conversation started, I hadn't spoken a word, but this was definitely going too far, "she is not going to let a disgusting, perverted human get even a mile near her."

"But maybe she'd understand," Alice tried to coax me with her pleading eyes.

"No, she's in Hawaii," I replied, "she wouldn't come here for a fortune."

There was a small cough, and it came from Jacob of all people.

"I read on Tanya DeMarchols' Twitter that she was in Texas," he said reminding me.

"Yeah, and Tanya DeMarchols is Peyton Steele's best friend," Leah said, "I'm sure if Alice asked her contact she'd do it."

"Alice," I choked through gritted teeth, "a word?"

Alice stood up obediently and I stormed out of the cafeteria, letting her catch up with me. I continued to walk into the girls' bathroom and after she had gotten in, I hung a 'Do not disturb' sign on the door and locked it from the inside.

"Explain. Please," I said with my voice brittle.

"Edward needs a lesson," Alice responded almost immediately, she knew to expect this, "Peyton Steele could teach her one."

I made a high-pitched noise and threw my clenched fists in the air. I must have looked crazy because at that point Alice looked scared. As if she hadn't been expecting this kind of reaction. I paced around the bathroom in a figure of eight.

"Do you realise how much jeopardy I could be put in?" I shrieked at her, and a little too shrilly at her, "The blonde hair is a wig, do you know what it's like to have maniacal fans, I could be _exposed_, no _ruined_."

"Bella..." Alice said trailing off, her face pulled into a face completely full of anguish. I ignored her.

"I spent the last three years building myself up to my zenith so I can't risk one high school dance for anything."

"Listen..."

"Plus the fact my mother would completely _flip_ and disagree immediately, Alice, this isn't a great idea."

"Bella, just listen to me!"

I looked at her and she was staring at me with a frustrated expression. Her eyebrows were knitted and her blue eyes were imploring.

"Do you or do you not want to teach Edward a lesson?"

"If there was a less exposing method of doing it, then yes," I replied honestly, "I'm not doing whatever you want me to do."

"Just think about it," Alice muttered, "and even if people find out who you really are, you're both Bella Swan and Peyton Steele."

She walked over to the door and unlocked it quickly and opened the door. I looked at the person who had been standing there with their ear pressed onto the door and listening to everything we had said in the past 7 minutes or so. I gulped.

*

Even though it was yet another lesson with the beloved Edward I was kind of glad to get to Biology by fifth period. I was stressed. This Peyton gossip had to die down. I couldn't risk anymore people knowing about my secret. Jacob was fine because I never usually kept things from Jacob since I had known him since I made sand pies on the La Push Beach, but Alice? I barely knew the girl. Plus now Rosalie knew. Rosalie had been the person who was eavesdropping on our conversation. At first I was furious that she'd invade on privacy but her reasoning had made sense. She wanted to know it had been that made me so upset with Alice. She finally knew.

She then swore to the cheerleading gods that she would not tell. Not in a million years. By the ferocity of her tone I believed her. However, I didn't know what Alice and Rosalie did under the influence and that could work against my favour. However, Rosalie invited me to sleepover at her house tomorrow, an invitation I accepted on condition that she invite Leah too. Rosalie shrugged and walked out of the bathroom to go and invite Leah. It was a done deal. Now I wondered what I should pack.

I was pulled unwillingly from my reverie with a small cough. The lesson had not yet started but I was sat in my usual seat in Biology. I looked up and saw _him_. Edward Cullen. Surprise, surprise. There was yet _another_ deficit in the chairs in the room and that meant he was next to me. Edward looked at me as if there was something he was dying to say.

"I'm sorry for just staring at you," I said, "I was just trying to imagine you with a heart."

"Haha," he said sarcastically, "get out of my seat."

"Your seat? Does it have '_Property of Edward Cullen_' on it?"

"You know I had Chlamydia when I sat on that chair?" he said. I jumped out of it was if it was an electric chair and before I realised that I couldn't contract the stupid disease he had already occupied the damn seat. Fuck it. My sarcasm juices were in short supply at the moment. My tolerance was at even shorter supply. It was inadvertently his fault that Rosalie now knew my secret and will be inadvertently his fault again if more knew the secret. Damn him. Damn him and his stupid sex hair. And his wandering hands that seemed immune to the many, many slaps I gave them.

*

Okay, so I couldn't deal with it. I couldn't be so unhygienic for the car ride home. I will be the first to admit that I have a problem when it comes to smelling nice. Preferably like strawberries. So after gym on Friday I decided to have a shower. I had spare clothes that were locked away and unable to steal, so what the heck? Another positive was that if Rosalie caught wind of what they had done to me then they would be tortured. In girl world, that was much worse than what Edward could do to me and he was pulling all the stops to be as perverse and evil as he could at the moment.

I waited last to shower. School didn't close officially until 5 o'clock owing to extra-curricular activities meaning that I could wait until everyone left until I decided to shower. Which I did. I had already texted Jacob of my plans so he intended to go to the Thriftway to pick up some groceries before coming back and picking me up and taking me home. He was a good friend to me. Then the last girl left. I was confident that no one could steal my clothes so I went for a shower.

Emerging from the showers I saw that the clothes I had put on the communal pedestal were gone. _Bitches_. I wrapped the towel more tightly around myself and then walked into the draughty locker room. I walked across the cold stone floor towards my locker whilst trying hard not to shiver. I was too late. Goose pimples were already forming on my arms as I used them to keep the towel up.

"You're not meant to be in here," I said quite insolently.

"That's never stopped me."

"I suppose you're the one that stole my clothes," I interrogated, my eyebrow arched intended to make him crumble from the inside out. He didn't much to my dismay.

"Well, it was worth it."

I couldn't help it. I reached over and slapped the bastard. _How dare he?_

"Get the fuck out," I ordered, he smirked and then walked out and I hoped that was the last hint of bronze I would see today. I snapped and I glared at my navy blue locker.

"Edward Cullen I hate your fucking guts, and I'm going to get revenge on you if it's the last thing I do!"

*

Jacob Black was a dead man. It was pouring with rain and he hadn't returned from the Thriftway.

I know it was partially selfish of me to expect him to chauffeur me to school each day, and I knew that if I had it my way I would do it myself, but he promised. I liked to uphold my promises. I wanted people to extend the same courtesy to me.

Unfortunately, Jacob Black was at least '15 minutes away' and I was getting wetter by the second. The rain pelted me mercilessly and made me rethink my anorak which wasn't doing the job it was intended for when it was bought. I had one of those fortunate figures that made me look like a freaking 15-year old when I was in fact 18. This meant that most things that were pre-Peyton still fitted and his old anorak was one of those antiques. The effectiveness had worn away and now I was a walking sponge.

Just as long as no one hauled me to a pineapple under the sea, I was fine.

I smirked at my weak joke when a loud horn erupted through the pouring afternoon. Then I saw it. A stupid, shiny Volvo. Inside there drove a stupid, wannabe shiny wanker. He was smiling at me as if he was the first person to win the lottery. Or point out that my luck was crap. I didn't care which one.

"What do you want now, Cullen?" I called out to him. He rolled down his passenger window and lowered his sunglasses to show me his penetrative green eyes. This made him an even more of a wanker, because, who wore sunglasses when it was bloody chucking it down with rain?

"Get in."

"I'd rather eat my vomit that sit anywhere near you," I responded acidly.

"Get in before you catch hypothermia and die," he growled, as if it was actually going to work if he said a little more forcefully.

"I thought that your life would be a little more easier if I was dead."

"It would be."

I blanked him in response of what he said. If his life would be easier if I died then why did he feel he had to persuade me to get in a car with him? Was it some kind of buried chivalry? I shook that assumption away immediately. Chivalry was rolling in its grave whenever Edward Cullen breathed.

"So why offer to take me home?"

"To entertain you in my humble vehicle."

"Really?"

"No, so I can fucking harass you more. Happy?"

"Not really."

A horn interrupted the little squabble I was having with Cullen, and I was never happier to see a old red truck in my life.

"Well, I guess this is me, thank you for keeping me entertained albeit not in your humble vehicle," I trilled to Edward who looked thunderous.

"Are you trying to be funny?" he asked through some very compressed lips. I was surprised to understand what he said but I walked away regardless. I heard a loud splash and a screeching of tyres and then, he was gone.

_Finally. _

* * *

_Oh my days, I don't think I've written such long chapter for this story. 4 thousand words at least, and 6-and-a-bit pages. But at least I did it. I updated. I did what I said I would provided that you gave me 50 reviews. Which you did. Which I adore. _

_I added a little Edward/Bella fluff and I kind of like how it turned out. Remember, Bella doesn't like Edward much and Edward hates Bella. He's just torturing her in a way that he can, which is by using seduction and perverse things like improper touching. He's probably going to develop into a more darker and sinister hater soon. That was just the beginning of what he is going to do to Bella. Of course, Bella always has Peyton Steele, and I think I'd better stop there before I reveal most of the story in this getting-long-author note. _

_But I'd like to clear the air as well. In no way does this have any connection to Hannah Montana. I know the popstar concept is literally the same, but whilst Hannah Montana explores the highs of fame, I want to explore the lows of fame and double-identity. Plus, Bella as a poppy princess? I have a hard time imagining that. Especially with the snarkiness that Bella keeps spewing. _

_So after that I have one more note: Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter._

_Love, bexx. _


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. And Endemol. And CBS. You'll find out why soon._

_And of course, all lyrics that are 'Peyton Steele' song lyrics are obviously mine (;_

* * *

**Different Names for the Same Thing**

* * *

Leah wasn't able to make it to Rosalie's sleepover. In some ways, I felt scared to approach the Hale townhouse without someone I knew wouldn't betray me, yet relieved because I wouldn't have to divulge my secret to anyone else. Really, four people in Forks who knew was really enough.

Charlie was ecstatic that I had actually made friends outside La Push. He knew that I hadn't made a very good first impression he did not know about the consequences leading to why I hadn't made a good first impression. Even the Forks chief of Police had some blind spots sometimes. He was especially impressed when he found out it was Rosalie Hale's house I was going to – and that Alice Cullen was going to be there. When I commented on the size of the Hale townhouse, he told me to watch out for the Cullen house if I ever had a chance to go there. If there was a likeliness that I'd bump into Edward, then I'd rather not go.

"I'm going to do it," I told the pair just before my overnight bag hit the floor with a pathetic thump. Rosalie clapped as if I had just told her of some new policy. Alice, on the other hand, remained sceptical.

"What made you change your mind?" she asked, a dark eyebrow raised as if she almost thought my declaration was too good to be true. I stared fiercely at her.

"I realised Edward Culled is truly a wanker and he completely deserves any type of revenge, even if it reveals my identity - if anything I'm ready to see the horror on his face when he finds out," I said acerbically.

"Hear, hear," Rosalie quipped before adding in and undertone to Alice," I thought you wanted her to do it."

Alice shook her head, letting her short hair fly across her face, regardless of how much maintenance it had cost to get it into pristine condition it had been in to begin with.

"You-You're right Rosalie," she muttered after she had finished shaking negative thoughts from her head," I-I wasn't thinking. Over-Overprotect-tective older sister mode went into overdrive t-then."

My mouth fell open and Rosalie looked greatly amused.

"Edward is younger than you?" I said without thinking. My face heated up after I realised that I had asked quite a personal and demeaning question. I tried not to punch myself for assuming that because Alice was a _lot_ shorter, it meant she was younger than Edward.

"Adoptive younger brother," Alice added with relish, sensing my shock. I guess she was enjoying my astonishment to be offended in any manner.

"Ho- How?"

"Well we don't exactly advertise that Edward isn't our biological brother, it just makes him hate us more."

"He doesn't act as if he-,"

"Not now, he used to hate us, he just hates Carlisle now," Alice explained. It know made sense why Edward seemed to hate Carlisle so much. Before I even opened my mouth Alice put her hand over my mouth.

"Don't ask," Alice told me quietly, "it's his story and it's his right to tell. Only the people he trusts knows."

"But-!"

"Plus," Alice cut in front of my exclamation, "if he tells Peyton Steele then, that just means that he's in trouble isn't he?"

For a small amount of time I felt guilty. I didn't want to lead anyone on - especially someone with complex parent issues that carried trust. It felt wrong to gain his trust and then throw it back in his face. Then I thought of how much of a wanker he had been. He was literally the poster boy for the sin of lust – especially with his perverted thoughts and actions. Also, with the parental issues he had, he should actually be grateful that Carlisle put a roof over his head and gave him a home rather than lashing out at his adoptive family and other girls.

_Maybe that's why he sleeps around, to let go of his issues_.

I pushed away the thought as quickly as it had come. I would not feel sorry for Edward. His issues should mean that he would become a better person to avoid them, not make it so that they are excuses for his actions. He had to learn. He had to _pay_. _Pay_ for everything he's done to other people and especially to me.

"Okay," I started, "some ground rules."

Alice and Rosalie sat silently in wait.

"The Quileutes get the star treatment too, you have to _share_."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Rosalie said solemnly. Alice's expression said what Rosalie had already said.

Spurred on by this positive response I continued, "Renee has to know."

Their eyebrows shot up and I told them she was my mother slash manager. To this, they also agreed but they also knew of the chances of Renee flat-out refusing. They also agreed that they would go behind her back if need be, and Rosalie offered to try managing me if anything went awry. I took a deep breath before telling them the third and most crucial rule. To be honest, I had spent a long time thinking long and hard about how we would pull this off. There was the slight off-chance that Edward was intuitive as Alice – they were related, wait, not really, but there was still the chance. Alice was able to visualise me with blonde hair and figure out who I was within ten minutes. Who said that Edward couldn't visualise Peyton Steele with brunette hair?

"What is it, Bella?" Alice asked, her front two teeth were clamped firmly on her bottom lip.

"The week leading up to the Halloween party, you have to have some sort of fight with me and end up hospitalising me in some shape or form," I explained with a heavy voice. That was the plan I was dreading the most.

I wasn't surprised when they gasped and vehemently refused.

"Look," I silenced them with the single word. They looked at me a with a 'you-better-explain-and-it-better-be-good' expression on their faces, "It will look entirely too suspicious if I don't go just the day that Peyton Steele is there and performing. The clever ones will put two and two together and figure who I am before I finish performing."

"So what?" Rosalie demanded, "tell them you're visiting relatives or you're not a fan. Or both."

"On the day that Peyton Steele performs?" I reminded them, "Sure, I could say that I'm not a fan but human natural instinct attracts us to celebrities – you can't really dislike them and people latch onto them for the fifteen minutes of fame."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience," Alice said ruefully.

"I am," I admitted unabashed, "and that's why I know this. If I was Bella Swan, meeting Peyton Steele would be the thing that would shoot me into popularity at Forks High School, something that I really need at the moment to stop people stealing my street clothes when I shower, but that's never going to happen.

If I was Bella Swan, then I would want to get close to Peyton Steele just like every other human being but I can't be _just_ Bella Swan. I'm both of them, and that means that I can't avoid the party because that would make me a suspicious person. That's why I need a reason not to be there and people usually think that being in hospital or being too injured is a good reason."

"What about physically being in the hospital?" Alice countered after a while, taking time to digest what I had told her. Rosalie sat staring at her carpeted floor in silence whilst listening to me try and reason them into doing it. She could also be thinking of a loophole around it. Alice continued to point out flaws in my plan, "I would like to think Carlisle would notice if you weren't in the hospital for say, four hours, just as Peyton Steele was performing."

"Easy, pretend that I'm going to a private doctor in Seattle and staying there whilst being fussed over by my mother, when really I'll be rehearsing and having her oversee the process," I answered without taking a breath.

"You've really thought this out, haven't you?" Rosalie asked with a slight accusing tone. I nodded sheepishly.

"I realise that my entire career is at stake here and I accept that," I eyed the pair, "but I want to stay Peyton Steele and Bella Swan. Peyton Steele has the likeability factor and easier to promote than plain-Jane, Mary-Sue Bella Swan."

They opened their mouths to protest but I cut in and said,

"That doesn't bother me at all, even though it's true. If I was just a plain Jane it would mean that if I just walked outside without the blonde wig then the paparazzi could care less, and I could walk into Wal-Mart without attracting mass attention.

When I started this industry I knew of the consequences which was the main reason why I chose to have a double identity. Sometimes I love having the attention, but I want to have a life outside of being pushed and shoved and being badmouthed in tabloids when I do things that are completely justified. Did the tabloids tell people why I attacked the photographer? No, of course they weren't going to tell the nation that the photographer was taking picture of my ass but I still got the blame.

If we did this the way I meticulously planned it, it would have a chance of working without revealing my real identity. If it failed I could always fall back onto the fact that it was a hoax and a school-girl revenge tactic.

I also have to warn you guys to not let anything slip at all, it's not that I don't trust you guys. I do, but I'm also saying be careful because _one_ mistake in the plan means that everyone worldwide would know that Peyton Steele is just a pseudonym and the real person is a small-town girl called Bella Swan and I couldn't take being so trapped and having no alternative persona to fall back on."

They sat there with their mouth agape and I had their rapt attention. They agreed to the plan that wouldn't be put into action until at least a month later. This was perfect timing to:

"Write a song?" Rosalie asked incredulously, "what for?!"

"To seduce Edward," I told her with a smile, "like you said – I really thought this out. I realise my previous songs were all poppy and too inappropriate to sing to an eighteen-year-old boy if I wanted them. I'm going back to the drawing board and creating a new sound for Peyton Steele, well, at least that is what they're going to think. It's time that Peyton Steele grew up a little bit, which is a concept I've been playing with for the past three months since I met with my record company."

After this I immediately launched into the plan I had constructed in my brain right after Edward had completely pissed me off by being jackass of the year. First, I would enforce a special competition and hopefully, judging by his previous comments, Edward would enter it. Then, he would obviously win through my influence and I would serenade him with my 'demo' song. I just wished that his innate male instincts would make the situation escalate. Soon, I would have him truly working for Peyton Steele's affections.

Jeez, I sounded like a Victorian-esque aristocrat, but the sentiment was the same.

Alice spluttered again at this point and she thought that we were (or I was) going too far. After reminding her that it was her idea to drag Peyton Steele into the original revenge scheme and the fact that Edward had broken the _Peyton_ she was back on the revenge track. She became even more interested when I asked her to be my stylist and gave her complete access to my bank account provided that she would research on clothing styles that would seduce Edward and then buy them. All she wanted in return was the _Peyton_ because in her words it was "_totally exclusive and there is only going to be 100 of them made and I _have_ to have one._"

Rosalie was the person that was going to end up hurting me. Which was ironic during our first meeting I thought she was actually going to hurt me. However, she fervently refused to physically hit me that would make people think I was hospitalised, even though it was part of the elaborate plan. So she came up with the idea for me to try out for cheerleading and make it look as if my injury had been some freak cheerleading stunt gone wrong. I had to admire her tactical mentality, because I hadn't even considered that as a possibility and I had to admit that it would hurt a lot less if that happened because a cheerleading injury would be easy to fake. As long as Edward Cullen didn't see me, I was fine with wearing the school coloured navy blue cheerleading uniform. Go Spartans.

We also managed to convince Renee to let me to do it. As I had initially thought when Alice first brought up the idea she flat out snubbed the idea of it actually happening. After a solid ten minutes of coaxing and persuading, she said she'd think about it. I told her that whilst I was doing it, all the money the school may pay me, and from collections during the party would be donated towards to charity. I figured it wouldn't hurt to add that it would raise my philanthropy profile and give me good press which would hopefully counteract the bad press that I had recently gotten. Happy with my decision, Renee relented. She added that she would fly over two weeks prior the party in order to discuss contracts with the principal of the school. I didn't tell her full details of the plan, but I said I wanted to impress a certain boy to which she replied with a giggle and then hung up. I secretly thanks the gods for giving me a mother who was still a giggly teenager inside.

After exhausting our plan one final time we decided to watch a movie, eat some ice cream and the fall asleep laughing. This, of course, was the rational way to finish a day after spending it plotting because it was tiring planning a revenge slash lesson.

*

I had auditioned for cheerleading with flying colours on Monday. That was because, where I was abysmal at sport because it had rules and stuff in plain black and white, dancing and cheerleading involved some sort of creativity and true concentration to make it right. It also involved a confidence factor, and I found that I fell a lot less when I was confident. So, after displaying some basic dance moves and obvious cheerleading somersaults I was on the team that would cheer the never-past-the-second-stage Spartans.

So that meant that on Wednesday I had to I tell Jacob that on Wednesdays and Thursdays Rosalie would take me home after practise. He looked at me oddly and then the wrinkles in his forehead flattened. He remembered the plan. He also remembered it was cheerleading practise on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Yes, he had actually been the one that figured out that I was Peyton Steele but that didn't mean that he retained information much. Except for information that he could use at a later date.

I was also surprised that the cheerleading squad routines were so monotonous, so I took it upon myself to take Rosalie aside and give her some constructive criticisms. I had been ballsy but she agreed with me, even though she was the head cheerleader. I was doubly shocked that she said that she'd work on some moves tonight. The other cheerleaders glared at me for my 'cheek' because I supposed it was them that made them stay with the same routine since 1970 because they hadn't the creativity to create a completely new routine. Damn bitches. They also said that I needed to get better trainers under their breaths. Damn snobby bitches.

After my first cheerleading session I cut my shower short because I remembered I had forgotten to tell Rosalie that I needed a carpool back home. When I made my way back to the locker room, everyone had gone. Fantastic. The cleaner told me to get changed quickly and get out of the building meaning that I was outside before I pulled out my phone and was ready to call Jake to see if he could drive me home, instead of bothering Rosalie who was probably working on some new cheer moves. I didn't want to disrupt her further than I had already done with my intervention.

I didn't even type the passcode into my iPhone before a car came screeching before halting in front of me. I swear I could feel the bumper against my thigh. I stared at it in a state of shock and then stormed over to the drivers' side of the car. I rapped the window, and it slid down slowly. I was met by a pair of sunglasses.

"What the fuck?" I shouted at the person in the car, "what are you trying to do? Run me over?"

"No, seeing as I stopped before I could," he said with a crooked smile.

"Maybe that was because you didn't want a vehicular manslaughter charge before you graduated," I spat back angrily. He imitated the action of wiping spit from his eyes and that infuriated me more.

"Do you need a ride home?"

"I would rather you ran me over."

"Would you?"

"Yes."

He chuckled.

"Get in the car."

"No."

"Isabella..."

"I _told _you not to call me that, Eddie."

His smile dropped and he said lowly, "I suppose Alice told you to call me that."

"Yup." I replied, popping the 'p'.

"Fine. I'll call you Swan, but that's the best I'll go."

"As long as I get to call you Cullen. Deal or no deal?"

His lips played with a smile as I quoted the popular television show.

"Deal," he replied simply.

"Now that we have that cleared up..." I trailed off, "can you leave me be whilst I make a phone call?"

"No."

"Damn."

"I would like it if you got into the car though," he offered.

"If you take those fucking sunglasses off," I replied sarcastically. He took them off with one smooth and swift motion, like Horatio Caine in CSI: Miami. He then ruined the Horatio effect by rolling his eyes.

"Now will you?"

"No."

"Oh, come on, I'm wasting gas here and I'm not moving until you get in the car."

"Not my problem," I told him with a singsong voice.

"Bella?" he purred. Damn. He fucking _purred_ my name. No wonder girls fell in love with him. I sighed exasperatedly and then walked over to the passenger side, giving up. I sat down and then buckled myself into the Volvo. He turned to face me with a smile and then turned his steering wheel before pulling out of the car park.

"So, what's with the sudden Good Samaritan?" I asked, unable to understand his sudden kind gesture.

"Let's just say that it's an impasse," he said airily before looking at me pointedly, "a truce."

"I know what impasse means," I stated haughtily.

Then it happened. I don't know why it was suddenly there and loud, but Edward pressed play and I heard my own voice belt out of the cars sound system.

"_Hey, hey, there's other guys there/They say there's plenty of fish in the sea..."_

There is nothing more embarrassing than listening to the sound of your voice meshed with some synthetic voice crap.

"_I'm not gonna forgive you_/_I'm not gonna fall for you again..."_

Before I knew it, I was immersed in singing the song. Full-on tapping of the feet singing it loud enough so that Edward could hear me. He actually had the audacity to cough and interrupt me. I was so engrossed in the song, which was one of my favourites to perform live because everyone got up and danced to it, I actually glared at him.

"What?" I growled it. Actually growled it. Despite my best 'growling' efforts, he didn't recoil.

"Who sings this?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

I tried not to say 'me'. It was too tempting, but I knew I wasn't allowed to do it, unless I wanted him to know. Plus, if he had the CD why did he need to know?

"Um. Peyton Steele?" I asked more than told.

"Let's keep it that way."

Damn stupid, shiny, Volvo, name-purring owner. I crossed my arms in frustration. Why couldn't he tell that my voice was literally the same as the one on the CD? Plus, he was singing under his breath the hypocrite. I looked out of the window and saw a familiar place outside, but not necessarily the right one.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, wondering if he knew where I lived.

"If I want to be honest, I don't really know."

"You-You!"

"What am I now? A wanker? An asshole? Please give me a better insult. Isabella."

"Let me out now."

He stomped on the brake and then grinned.

"My pleasure."

I undid the seatbelt and opened the car door. He seemed content in ditching me in the middle of nowhere and unable to find my way home. Oh, the simple, simple boy. I watched as he did a U-Turn and drive the heck away from me. As soon as he was away from a visible distance I grabbed my phone and called Jacob. I was furious at myself for letting myself be convinced to take his carpool just because he purred my name. Never again.

"Bella?" Jacob asked, amusement colouring his tone, "did the head cheerleader ditch you?"

"Not. Quite," I said, "is there any chance that you could pick me up about a few miles before the La Push sign?"

If Edward had drove a few more miles then he would have noticed the La Push sign, signalling the start of the stretch of land that was the reservation. If I hadn't been here so many times in my life, I probably wouldn't have recognised it and been truly lost.

"Bella...what happened?"

* * *

_Death Cab for Cutie song for title today. Haha. _

_Okay, answering the pressing issue first. I changed my penname to __**Carrie Swinton **__for a reason. I was sick of Bexxfish, I have been for a while because it was a name heavily associated with an ex-boyfriend and I figured, new circumstances means a new start on something that has followed me from when I was him and when I am not. It's kind of childish, or immature, call it whatever but I think this penname is a little more long-lasting – but of course, my name is Bexx. Yeah, I'm confusing like that – the details are on the profile._

_Okay, I don't normally include names of reviewers in my Author notes, but I want to thank __**Mrs. Henry Tinley**__ for commenting on my grammar. I get peeved by reading fanfictions that have bad spelling and/or grammar, so I decided to invest in software than includes spellcheck. Plus, my school is really 'anal' (for lack of a better word) about grammar and spelling. Guess who won the class spelling bee? _

_Answering some questions I got in the reviews section...Edward and Bella getting along? I prefer if they didn't 'cos they make such cute arguing couples as illustrated above. I love writing spats. So not for now. As for Edward being a nicer person after meeting Peyton and Bella being treated different...well, I can't really answer those. It's a fifty-fifty. Plus I'm one of those writers who changes my mind more that I change my socks so I can't say anything for definite because it will be all – "but you said this in the chapter 8 author note" and I will hit my head on the desk if for doing something so dumb during the chapter 8 author note. _

_As for how much I update, it depends of course. When inspired, I update two or three times a week. When not, I will update one a week or less. I don't write pre-prepared entries, I do it on an update deadline kind of thing. Plus, if you live in Britain you will understand the stress that current 16-year olds are undergoing at the moment with GCSEs, so even though I'm on a break I'm still revising so it's hard for me to concentrate on mitosis and writing fanfiction at the moment. Of course, I will persevere and get it done. _

_Hope that clears anything up, and reviews are greatly appreciated._

_Love, bexx. _


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer and Warner pictures (I think)._

_Peyton Steele lyrics are mine, of course._

* * *

****

Please, please let me get what I want

* * *

"_I walk in the room/I see you looking at me..."_

"Bella, what _are_ you doing?"

I jumped out of my skin as I turned to face someone who was standing at the door. My heartbeat slowed down slightly as I saw it was only Jasper.

Jasper?!

"Um. Nothing," I replied quickly and I could feel my face flush with embarrassment. He raised an eyebrow and I added, "just writing a song."

"You play the guitar?" Jasper asked interestedly, walking into the room. He looked at me for an answer. I sighed. I guess a month had been too long to reveal a hobby like this. Plus, I knew Jasper played too and I was technically playing his guitar. At his house.

After Edward's blatant act of spitefulness he had resorted to less drastic measures. I hadn't retaliated because I was plotting the ultimate revenge. It had been weeks since his last move, and like a game of chess, he was waiting for me to make mine and he was ready to strike back. Except, I had no moves to strike back with. Well, none that he was able to figure out was me. In fact, I had little time to plan any epic manoeuvre that would happen in the next few days. I was too busy writing and perfecting a song that would have Edward in bits.

This meant that I was spending so much time with my guitar that Charlie decided to lock it away so I could focus on what was important, homework. What about revenge? Teaching a lesson? I kept this back and cringed as Charlie let me strum the guitar one last time before locking it in a trunk he kept in the attic. He said it was for the best. Uh-huh. Whatever, Charlie. I think he was trying to be sentimental, but I was in too much fury to care. I didn't really need a Biology grade to sing to tens of thousands of people, and I don't think I wanted the Biology grade which the amount of actual _Biology_ that actually went on in the classroom. Trust me. Edward Cullen has magic fingers. No wonder it made everyone else want to reproduce with him. It made me want to gag and run away back to LA and get on with my blonde-haired life. Plus, I had other ways of getting a guitar, which was the reason I was taking refuge in Rosalie's house for the next three days (or the weekend), so I can have this song demoed and ready for the music company to do a little magic before the big performance. I just thought that Rosalie had asked Jasper first or it would have looked as if I had completely stolen his guitar. He was just interested in the chords and tabs that I was picking.

There was too much going on. Song-writing and song-composing usually took a lot of time, meaning that I was surpassing a lot of deadlines for essays. Cheerleading was physically more brutal than I thought it would be. Dealing with Edward Cullen on a daily basis was enough to make me zonk out at 9pm. Renee was also flying to Seattle next weekend, a week prior to the Halloween party which added to my troubles. She was also going to ring the school board on Wednesday to ask them if I could perform, typical manager-ish things but she was also going to ask me to explain why I wanted to do it – because I had never cared how I had looked in the public before, so she would know it involved the boy I had mentioned. Damn, why had I said that again? Nevertheless, if things were going to go as swimmingly as I wanted it to go, then the school board would approve and happily pay the small amount it would cost for me to perform for charity. Then, if I could get the song, the gig and the clothes (Alice was having _too_ much fun selecting outfits with my unlimited bank-balance. I had to hold her back on some several _compromising_ items) then that would leave the cheerleading accident which had to happen in two weeks time.

For now, there was Jasper who had caught me on his guitar and was pointing out different chords that I could try out if I wanted to really shake things up.

"Thanks," I said appreciatively crossing out the original and replacing them with his suggestions.

"No big deal," Jasper shrugged and turning to walk out of the room. He paused and looked over his shoulder and then said, "as long as you credit me on your CD."

I laughed at the severity of his tone, "What?"

"Come on Bella, you're pretty damn good, I'm surprised you don't have a record contract yet," Jasper told me before walking out.

I was pretty shell-shocked. If he could truly read Rosalie's every thought and action as I was told that he could, then he would literally know. Was he confirming suspicion? Was he confronting me, trying to get me to confess? I paused. Was I too paranoid? I think I was, I had to calm down and I looked at the corrections that he had made.

"_And I just want to kiss you/And I know you want me to..."_

*

"Oh, my God – really?"

"Uh-huh. I was in the office when it happened, Mrs. Cope actually shrieked."

"Tell me what happened!"

"Well, I heard that her manager ran to see if she could perform, for charity, here on Halloween."

Rosalie turned to face me with a smug smile of satisfaction. Renee texted me that she was about to ring the school, and that had been twenty minutes ago. The school was buzzing with the information before it was even lunch. Rosalie was just happy that everyone else was psyched.

"So Alice, was it _you_ who asked Peyton Steele?" Rosalie asked Alice loudly across the table. Alice rolled her eyes and replied equally as loud, "Yeah."

"Where did you meet her?"

"Well, a friend introduced me to her in a bathroom."

"Who?"

"Bella did, duh."

I did a double-take as I realised what they were saying. I hissed under my breath, "Stop it."

They largely ignored me. Everyone else at the table looked at me accusingly and burst into a flurry of conversation. I glared at them individually and they were silenced. I then turned to Rosalie.

"Rosalie, how dare you tell everyone that I knew Peyton Steele."

The cafeteria silenced at my outburst. I was literally shaking with unmistakeable fury. Rosalie smiled at me, thinking I was joking but then frowned when she saw I was serious.

"What? I thought you'd _love_ everyone to know how you got the hottest performer to sing to us Forks," Rosalie answered, "but I guess some people aren't born grateful."

"This isn't about gratefulness, this is about breaking a promise!" I stamped my foot under the table. Rosalie regarded me with an unnerving eye, "Come on Bella, we all know how much you want to be popular, just admit it and we'll just carry on," she looked at me as if inspecting any flinches and then let out a short exhale of air, "you surely don't want to be a sad pathetic person who goes around unnoticed do you?"

"I don't want to be noticed by the wrong people," I spat back, "I thought you of all people knew that."

Rosalie threw her head back, her golden locks tumbling back and falling down her back like some honey waterfall and laughed. A loud, ringing, _cruel_ laugh.

"Bella, stop taking it out on me because you have a crush on my brother."

"WHAT?" I stood up and crushed the water bottle that was in my hand and water flew everywhere, "where in your dumbass brain did you figure that one out?"

"Don't call her a-," two voices raised at that table but they were heavily ignored. Rosalie stood up, and due to her height, she looked down on me.

"I saw you both in the study acting like Drew and Hugh on Saturday, in some _Music and Lyrics_ sick fantasy," Rosalie sighed as if it was hard work explaining it to me. My blood boiled and if I didn't keep my hands curled in the fists I wanted them to be in, I was afraid I would actually throttle her. I could hear her words ringing in my ears. I looked across the table and Alice was shaking her head at me, ever-so-slightly as if I had completely betrayed her. Jasper was just pale, paler than a ghost at the things that being said at that table. I could tell that Emmett was equally as dumbstruck. Embry, Quil and Leah were just as shocked. Jacob, on the other hand, smirked. I turned back to Rosalie and opened my mouth in a vain attempt to shut her up.

"Oh, leave it," Rosalie said contemptuously and grabbing her lunch tray, "I guess some people are plain rude."

She threw her hair and she stormed over to the table that Edward was occupying. Edward was leaned back in his chair and obviously enjoying how it was playing out at our table. Within a minute, Emmett and Jasper had followed Rosalie to the table that was now reinstated as the Cullen-Hale table. Alice was the last to leave and she looked at me.

"Alice, you have to believe me, there is nothing-!"

"Just leave it, Bella," Alice cut in, "please?"

Her tone broke my heart and I slumped onto my chair. Jacob was still smirking.

"What?" I shot across the table.

"Can't you figure it out?" he asked, crossing his arms and sitting in a fashion that was not dissimilar to a certain Cullen. I gave him a look that simply said 'explain, please'. Jacob recognised it.

"If you're too much of a 'dumbass' to figure that out, I'm not telling you."

With that, he stood up and left the table.

*

My first rehearsal sucked. Majorly. I was too annoyed with the whole Rosalie debacle that I wasn't focused on the dancing. My singing sucked a little too, but my mother just cited it as nerves at performing again. That was only because she was watching me via webcam. I had several witnesses to tell her that it was not nerves, it was the mood of being pissed off. That was rehearsal for Wednesday night. Charlie nearly had a conniption when he found out that I was driving to Seattle that night and possibly not attending the school the next day. He thought that the idea of me travelling to Seattle on a school day when I could do it at the weekend was ridiculous. He also accused Renee of revoking her side of the original plan of letting me have a normal school year without the idea of performing.

Yes, Charlie knew. He was initially adamant that it was a mistake but when he called Renee he was furious. I guess not much slipped past Charlie. Renee could be fluently proficient in lying, but Charlie could catch her out. Now he knew why I was so obsessed with my guitar. He just kept it locked with more security and confined it in his cruiser.

Mhm. If only that was the thing that would inevitably stop me from performing. I had already sent over the demo and the boys at the studio were working on it like workers' bees. All I needed to know were chords and I would play faster than Mozart.

Then again, not as fast, but you get the gist.

So Renee and I found a compromise that satisfied Charlie's demands. I would go to Port Angeles which wasn't as far, and I'd keep my grades up. If I turned out with grades lower than a B by the Friday before the Halloween party then there was no performance. A harsh rule, but if it meant snubbing Rosalie and the Cullen-Hales and getting my revenge on Edward then it was worth it.

And if Rosalie dared tell anyone then she would be sued by my Harvard law school graduate lawyers for false declaration or something technical on that. I knew Alice wouldn't because of the Peyton that was safely tucked under her arm as she left school today. It was only Rosalie I was really worried about anyway. I just hoped that she kept her mouth shut because I didn't really want to go forth with any legal action. One, it was bad press and two, she was still a friend and we were having a fight. Friends don't take friends to court. Especially if a friend wants to stay a friend with the other.

*

"Lonely yet?" a snide voice muttered into my ear as I was looking through a microscope. I supposed the objective was to scare me enough to make my poke my eye with the eyepiece. I looked up at my Biology partner who was the culprit because he was the only within a yard's distance that looked disappointed.

"Why would I be lonely?" I asked him with a grin.

"Your so-called friends have ditched you and flocked back to _moi_," he said slowly as if he was savouring the words, and trying to be nonplussed at his failed attempt. Ah yes, I was waiting for that moment when Edward would tell me that the Cullen-Hale table did not only consist of just a Cullen anymore. It had been a week since I had that fight with Rosalie and I had bailed out of last week's practise on Wednesday and Thursday to rehearse. I knew that I wouldn't get away with it this week. I came up with the lamest (compared to my ones before) comeback ever. Forks was really using up my inborn sarcasm machine up.

"Please do not speak French, you're ruining a beautiful language," I chastised and offered him the chance to look in the microscope. My fingers deftly nudged the Iris so that it closed up the light source. He looked in the microscope and then changed the objective and muttered something under his breath. He looked up and glared at me before calling Mr. Banner to our workstation.

"The microscope has broke," Edward said simply.

"Broken," I coughed and he bit back a retort. I could see it was physically ripping his soul apart to not say anything disparaging in front of our Biology teacher. Mr. Banner looked in the microscope, turned the Iris and then sighed.

"Take another look, Edward," he said warily before walking off to another couple that had problems. Edward peeked and assessed the sample before looking at me.

"You did that on purpose."

"Did what?" I asked innocently.

"You turned some stupid thing to make me look stupid," Edward accused.

"What? How do I know you didn't do it yourself?"

Edward growled under his breath. I would have found it a little scary had it not been incredibly seductive at the same time. I rolled my eyes and sat back down.

There was no chair. I fell, my arms flailing before colliding with something hard and around my body. Edward.

"Are you alright?" he asked concernedly and the classroom looked over us. Mr. Banner literally sprinted over to us.

"What happened, Cullen? Swan?" he questioned with a thick, bushy eyebrow raised at us.

"She fell, I think she must have thought her chair was behind her but it wasn't," Edward explained in a childlike manner. He even enunciated each word like a child.

"Swan, you have to be careful, this is a _laboratory_ you know," the teacher reprimanded me as if he was telling off a fifth-grader before turning on his heel in disbelief. I was shaking, not for fear of pain but for anger. True rage was coursing through my veins as I grabbed Edward's shirt to hopefully strangle him with his collar. The bench behind us gasped.

"The poor lamb is still scared," Edward whispered as if I was a five year-old child, and he bent over to lift me to my feet.

Not before whispering, "Two can play at that game."

And pulling my bra strap.

And effectively undoing it.

Oh.

My.

God.

What kind of fingers did this, this person possess? My face flushed, obviously because my bra was literally undone. Any movement would make people snicker at me and tell me to get a bra. Any movement to clasp it closed would make people wonder what kind of crack I was on. And then when they realised what it was I was actually doing then they would call me a whore. Or worse. I would just have to spend the rest of this Biology lesson with my arms crossed and try and rush into the toilets before Gym so it didn't look weird when I was changing in the locker room. Edward was still smiling about it when the bell rang half-an-hour later.

I hated the bastard, I really did.

*

"Oh, look its Bella Swan," Rosalie called across the fields where practise usually was, "finally showed up did you?"

The other cheerleaders laughed at me as Rosalie started on me.

"Sorry, Rosalie I had other things to do."

"That's not an excuse to bail practise," Rosalie hissed, "it even makes me want to reconsider your dedication to the squad."

"I'm-I'm sorry," I whimpered. She was really grating me. She was really mad at me, and she also looked ready to murder me. She stared at me and turned to the cheerleaders before clapping her hands.

"We're going to do the pyramid today," Rosalie shouted before turning to me, her ponytail flying across her back.

"Swan, you're up top."

This called for a lot of disputes, even some from me.

"I don't know what to do at the top," I reacted immediately and stomped my way over to Rosalie. She turned and frowned at me, "Swan, you will do as you're told and you will haul your ass to the top, and you will not question my ability as head cheerleader!"

"But Rosalie-,"

"Swan, how much do you want to be on this squad?"

"Um..."

"I said, SWAN," Rosalie's tone was getting louder and more forceful, "how much do you want to be on this squad?"

Damn, she was vicious when she hated you.

"A-A l-lot," I stammered. My eyes were prickling and I had to pinch my wrist behind my back to stop the tears coming out.

"Then get on the top of the pyramid," Rosalie ordered, "NOW."

I walked over to the nearly-completed pyramid and then looked back at Rosalie who stood looking at me with her hands on her hips. I walked over to the male cheerleaders that would provide the upthrust for me to catch the cheerleaders that were going to kind of pull me up I was at the top of the pyramid. I took a deep breath and I could see a blur as I reached out. Two different hands with long nails pulled me up as I jumped and then I did some random thing that made me land on their hands and they supported me at the top. I looked around the field.

Wow. Things did look better from a higher level.

"SWAN!" a voice called and I wobbled a bit. It was a wobble too costly as I fell back. The whole pyramid fell and somehow, I think I landed in between two people. Everyone was staring daggers at me and groaning. Oh, because it was my fault now that I was scared by Rosalie and wobbled?

Apparently so.

"Is everyone okay?" Rosalie called with a distressed voice. There were several noises of assent as Rosalie assessed each person. The last person she came to was me.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her hazel eyes flashing with fear and worry. I was all right. It was only a stupid cheerleading accident. _Hold on..._

"Ow, I think I've done something to my ankle," I mumbled, wincing as I stepped on it. Rosalie told everyone else to go get changed and practise was over for today. When everyone was still in earshot she told me to take my shoes and socks off so she could inspect my ankle.

"I'm sorry for being a bitch for the past week," Rosalie admitted, showing signs that she was punching herself inside.

"I'm sorry for figuring out what you were doing too late, I guess this is what Jacob meant..."

"Jacob?" Rosalie's eyebrow went up, "he figured it out?"

"He's a little," I said stopping to wrack through my brains for a suitable word, "perceptive."

"Still, I overstepped it," Rosalie said softly, "you were nearly in tears."

"It's okay, Rosalie, really."

"I will _never_ call you Swan again."

"Rosalie, it's fine."

"Or accuse you of crushing on Jasper - that was out of line for you and Alice."

"Rosa-lie?"

"But you have to know I did it for the plan," Rosalie lamented as she looked at me, her eyes brimming with moist.

"It's okay, Rosalie, stop beating yourself up for it," I told her gently, "it was called acting."

"Ruthless acting if you ask me."

I took Rosalie's shoulders in my hands and shook her slightly.

"Look, that's over now, we need to overlook that and concentrate on other things," I told her forcefully.

"Like what?"

"Phase Two."

* * *

_A time-jump from the last month to this, but the story needed to move forward. A little bitch-y Rosalie in this one and I hope she came across that way._

_Next chapter features Peyton Steele, so don't miss it. _

_Today's song title comes from Muse. I have a feeling that the next song-related chapter title will be 'Number One Enemy' which is a song by Daisy Dares You, which I'm addicted to. _

_You've got the love ( as Florence and the Machine would say), so show me some by clicking the green button below?_

_Love bexx. _

_PS. Please do not be put off by my song addictions that are from British-based singers (:_


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer._

_Peyton Steele lyrics are mine, and the song '_Kiss You' _was written by me, and you can pretty tell. It's pretty cheesy. _

* * *

**Starstrukk**

* * *

"I can't believe that you're on crutches," Jacob laughed, "where do you get the props?"

"When you've gone a resourceful manager and a demanding father, you get crutches," I explained, trying to keep my composure under control.

"Charlie didn't let you go to Seattle to rehearse?"

"He'd rather let the crazy-people of Forks run amok."

That last part was true. He said that if I stayed home for no reason then he would too. When I said I wasn't technically going to be home, but in Seattle, he just replied that he'd follow.

I did _not_ want Charlie listening to '_Kiss You_'. No way. So did what I was told. That meant I had to rehearse on Friday after school and stay in Seattle before driving to Forks with Renee the next day. It was a lot of rehearsal time, but if I arrived earlier in Forks High then I think that it would be compensated that way.

Now, I looked plain stupid with a pair of crutches. I was faking a sprained ankle, and instead of the rest, ice, compression and elevation that I actually needed (or rehearsal time) I would have to tell people that I'm a dedicated student.

As if I wasn't despised enough.

*

"Um. Bella?"

I looked up and it was a few minutes before the Biology lesson began. Edward and I were sitting in the classroom, we usually were the first two in the classroom to see who would get the coveted seat. I won today. I actually spent lunch in here. _Take that Cullen!_ I was met by a person that I've never seen before.

"Yes?"

"I-I was wondering," the boy said with his face flushed, "if you wanted to go to the Halloween party with me?"

Edward stiffened beside me.

"Well," I started to say, "um.."

"Mike, my name is Mike," he supplied helpfully.

"Mike, I would love to," his face brightened up...ah, I hated situations like these, "but."

"But?" Mike said, "damn it, I knew there'd be a but."

"Sprained ankle, I think that it would be better if I stayed home," I explained and he shrugged.

"I understand, but I can't rule out prom, right?"

"Just quit while you're ahead," I advise and he jolly-_skipped_ to his bench. There was a loud exhale of breath next to me and a low chuckle.

"What?" I demanded facing Edward, who looked thoroughly happy with how the situation was handled.

"You're getting asked to parties and major dances," he said simply. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"So?"

"That means I'm not doing a good job." My eyebrows furrowed even deeper.

"What job?"

"To ruin your life," he replied as if it was completely obvious. "But don't worry, I still have an hour of school left to make sure that nobody else will ask you to the Halloween party."

"Save it," I snapped before saying aloud to the assembling class, "hey, could you all pass on to everyone else in the school that _I _can't go to the Halloween party – so don't bother asking."

I turned away from the sceptical faces, and to my astonishment, some disappointed faces. Edward looked livid and as if he had been slapped. It was a great feeling, outsmarting him. Plus, there was no violence included. Which was a bonus. There was no greater feeling than that.

"Yeah, I was going to do that," Edward remarked in a high voice. He turned to the door and yelled at the person walking into the classroom, "BELLA SWAN CAN'T GO TO THE HALLOWEEN PARTY!"

Mr. Banner looked at Edward as if he was crazy and cleared his throat before saying, "Thank you for informing the class and I on this matter."

I snorted as I hid my head on my crossed arms. Edward was speechless. I couldn't believe of how much of a child he had sounded like when he announced it loudly and it was even better that he had made a fool of himself in front of the Biology teacher. I didn't resurface my head until the Biology teacher told me to pay attention a good five minutes later. Even then, I had the cheesiest 'I've-just-made-Edward-Cullen-make-a-fool-of-himself' grin on my face.

I don't think I actually learnt anything that Biology lesson.

However, I did learn one thing at the end of the Biology lesson when I went to tidy my things. Edward had stomped out of the Biology classroom at the end of the lesson in a fit of rage, but he left something behind for me. How did I know it was for me and from him?

Come on, who else in the school called me Isabella?

_Isabella.._

_You have may have won this round, but there are many rounds._

_To me, this is a game. A game for the strong-willed._

_I _am_ stronger than you, and when I win..._

_Well, that's for me to know and you to wait and throw a hissy-fit._

_PS. Await my checkmate._

I scrunched the paper up in my hands before hobbling over to the door to watch everyone do PE instead of participating. So, Edward thought that this was a game of chess, huh? Well, he had to know that chess had many moves and I was going to throw in the deadliest of the lot.

A move called Peyton Steele.

*

"Let me see! Let me see!" my manager scrambled over to me from the next room. Luckily she had taken over her heels when she clambered over the bed in her enthusiasm. The wig-fixer slash hairdresser slash makeup artist turned the hairdressing chair around and said,

"Voila.."

Renee took me in with one look. My blonde wig was back. My fingers ran through the satin soft hair and I almost purred in contentment. Fitz, the multitasking magician seemed to be able to erase the purple rings around my eyes that had developed, and he even got my skin glowing. Renee sighed, "You look beautiful."

I looked in the mirror beside me again and sighed like she had, "I know. I'm finally home."

Renee looked at me with a sad smile. She knew that it was sad for me to refer that being in a blonde wig was like 'home' but it really was. Renee came over and adjusted the wig slightly.

"Mo-ooo-om," I complained, squatting her hands away and she took a step back with a childish grin.

"Right, we need to hop into the limo and get there pronto," Renee informed me, "then you'll rehearse with the dancers until about 6 o'clock where you will go into hair and make-up, Fitz will also be telling you what clothes you are wearing.

At 8 o'clock, people will start to come in, you will not appear onstage until half-past eight, so you will _stay out of sight, _is that understood?"

I nodded.

"Good, then at half-eight you will start the show by announcing the competition. At nine-fifteen you will go in for intermission, where Fitz will reapply make-up and sort out any hair problems and you will change your clothes. Then you will reappear onstage at nine-twenty five and continue until nine-fifty where you will announce the winner of the competition. You will finish at ten, and then there will be a forty-five minute meet and greet, and if the party is still going on, you are permitted to party until eleven sharp."

I nodded. Renee was being strict with the curfew but she was good. She wanted everything to operate at military precision, and even though sometimes there were things that were out of her control, like meet and greets going for longer than they were supposed to, she always made sure that every deadline was met. Plus, we were going to stay the night at a hotel in Port Angeles, which was an hour away, and she didn't like it if she wasn't in bed before 12am.

For now, it took three-and-a-half hours to get to Forks from Seattle, so we had to bolt. Now.

*

"_And today, as you well know we have a special guest..."_

Breathe. Bella. Breathe. No, Peyton. Breathe. Peyton. Breathe.

I was clasping my hands in a chair whilst Fitz sprayed hairspray on my hair. Well, duh. That's where hairspray was supposed to go. Okay, I needed to calm down. I was getting irritated.

"Nervous, honey?" Fitz asked.

"How can you tell?"

"Well, for first, you're praying and I haven't seen you do that since you first started," Fitz replied simply. He turned to face me and put a hand on his hip whilst popping his other hip, "and _darlin'_, you are looking fine, so no sweat. Just have fun like I know that you always have."

I gulped and nodded fervently, "I will."

"_Peyton STEELE!"_

There was cheering, a lot of it. Wow, it felt weird to have people cheering for me, especially people who had expressed their hatred over the last month. I think Jessica Stanley was wearing a T-shirt from one of my tours. Creepy.

"Hello Forks!" I shouted into my microphone. The lights over me were almost blinding me, but that didn't mean I couldn't see the transformation that the Forks High School Gym had undertaken in the past 24 hours. Balloons hung over the ceiling, waiting to be dropped for my finale song. The lights over me would change colours between numbers and everyone was in Halloween attire.

"Before I start, there is a competition for you all which costs a dollar to participate in, for which it goes to charity," I told them, "Whoever wins, will win a special serenade from me at the end of the show, and special meet-and-greet tickets, the box is at the back of the gym..."

There was movement as people rushed to the back of the gym as they hurried to get their entry in. It took ten minutes for everyone to return to the stage area and I could start my first number.

"Now, this is a song that I _love_ doing," I started before singing, "_Hey you/Do you think of me...?"_

*

Adrenaline. That was what was coursing through my veins as I sang each song and belted out each tune. My classmates were in awe and were jumping to the songs. Their moods echoed my songs, when I sang an upbeat song they would hug each other and dance to the beat, whenever I did a ballad they would sway drunkenly to the sad, sombre rhythm. I was almost upset when intermission came along and I had to stop performing. At least I had gotten to see Alice, who had forgiven me when Rosalie told her the truth, and Rosalie, who was relishing the fact that Edward had in fact entered himself three times in the competition. The dress I was about to wear had been one of Alice's choices. It was very bohemian-pattern playsuit that ended mid-thigh. Somehow Alice thought that I could wear sneakers with this dress, so I just wore them. I wasn't going to complain, I was finally going to be out of the death-trap killer heels and skinny jeans that she had for me before.

The second-half was definitely better than the first. My guitar was on, I was singing and playing at the same time, and the guitar solo for "_Ain't_ _got any love for you_"? I could literally sense Jasper watching my every move as I strummed and finger-picked each note. He was also the one that sounded, "You're amazing at guitar Peyton!"

It was loud and I looked at him. He blushed.

"Thank you," I personally said and he went further red. I looked across and I saw Renee point at her watch. She also had a box in her hands.

"Well, it's getting late, so I'm going to announce the winner of the competition!" I announced and there was a loud cheer. I walked over to where Renee was and I took the rather-heavy box from her. I walked back on the stage and plonked the box onto the chair that I had performed on before. I was met by another loud cheer. I stuck my hand into the box and the gym silenced.

"Drum roll, please," I asked and the clichéd drum roll was heard, "the winner of the competition is..." The suspense in the air probably weighed a ton if you boxed it up.

Luckily for me, the ticket that actually came out was the intended person, "Edward Cullen!"

There was a loud whoop as someone hurtled towards the stage.

For once, Edward Cullen had a true, genuine smile on his face. I handed him a special meet-and-greet ticket which would be for the last ten minutes of my meet-and-greet, autograph-signing sessions. And he would have them all alone. Oh, yeah.

"For you, I'm going to a demo of a new song," I told him and lifted the guitar strap over my head. I played the first few chords...

"_I walk in the room,  
__I see you looking at me,  
__I walk past you  
__I see you staring at me._

_And then I get all sensitive  
__I wanna know what you're thinking.  
__Ooh.  
__I'm getting paranoid,  
__I've gotta let this out..._

_I wanna hold you all the time,  
__I want your body under mind...  
__And it will be so damn fine, because I won't let you go  
__And then I wanna kiss you,  
__And I know you want me to..."_

Edward was licking his lips and smiling at me getting into the beat of the song, I play a little longer that I should have between the verses but that gave me enough time to grin at him.

"_I'm outta control,  
__Every time I see you,  
__Every time I think of you,  
__And it's crazy because I've only met you, _

_And then I get all sensitive  
__I wanna know what you're thinking.  
__Ooh.  
__I'm getting paranoid,  
__I've gotta let this out...  
_

_I wanna hold you all the time,  
__I want your body under mind...  
__And it will be so damn fine, because I won't let you go  
__And then I wanna kiss you,  
__And I know you want me to..."_

"Come on!" I called the crowd and to Edward and handed him the microphone to sing into, I played whilst he sung the chorus to me and the whole gym.

"_I wanna hold you all the time,  
__I want your body under mind...  
__And it will be so damn fine, because I won't let you go  
__And then I wanna kiss you,  
__And I know you want me to..."_

I playfully took the microphone off him and sung the chorus one more time to the crowd who were jumping in want for more. I ran past the stage and I slapped their awaiting hands. To be adored by people who normally hated you, felt great. Then there was the final beats.

"_I wanna kiss you, I know that you want me to...  
__I wanna kiss you, I know that you want me to...  
__I wanna kiss you, I know that you want me to..."_

I finished the song by saying to Edward, "Do you want me to kiss you?"

He was probably too starstruck to answer but he gulped and nodded tentatively. I grabbed his face in my hands and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you guys for a great show!" I called and then ran off the stage. Edward was frozen on the stage unable to comprehend what had happened to him in the last two minutes, and to make Edward like that made me feel on top of the world. Renee was so proud of me, and Fitz gave me a high-five. I had not much time to get ready for the autograph-signing.

Yippee.

Or not.

*

After enduring thirty-five minutes of, 'Oh, my God! I love you' and 'can you sign this'? I was up to the part where I was dreading the most. My ten minute alone time with Edward Cullen. Renee was able to push me away into an empty classroom where Edward was pacing in. She could help me with every other aspect, but with me being me, and practically hating the guts of this guy, there was nothing much that Renee could or would do.

"Hi, I'm Peyton Steele, it's great to meet you," I introduced myself by hugging him and sitting on a desk. Edward looked me from my face down, down until he reached my legs. His eyes practically bugged out. I raised an eyebrow.

_Did Edward have a thing for legs?_

If he did, then I understood why Alice wanted to expose as much of my legs as possible.

"I-I'm, Ed-w-w-ward," he said before taking a deep breath, "but I think you already know that."

"Yeah, I'm blonde but that doesn't mean I forget things easily," I rolled my eyes and I saw that he was still standing, "well, aren't you going to sit?"

He literally fell on a chair, as if his legs were already turning into jelly and he really needed a chair at that moment.

"I want to apologise for my complete inappropriate behaviour on the stage," I started, "I shouldn't have kissed you."

"It's fine, I said you could, remember?" Edward answered quite quickly, "for someone who's adamant at having a good memory you did forget that crucial moment."

I blushed slightly, and his fingers suddenly brushed away my fake hair.

"You have a pretty blush."

Jeez, you've seen this blush probably a hundred times before and you usually revelled in its appearance. Just because I've gone different hair and a different name makes it different? That's what I really wanted to say.

"Thanks," I ended up going with.

"Do you-?" I asked just as he said, "I was-.."

We looked down in embarrassment at the awkwardness and then I asked him to go first. Naturally, he asked me to go first, so I told him that it was his opportunity to ask _me_ questions not the other way round and he let go.

"I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie sometime... Have dinner?" he invited with a tint of hope in his tone.

"Sorry, see no evil, hear no evil, date no evil," I chanted.

"I have no idea what that means," Edward admitted.

"Erm, you are Edward Cullen, womanising extraordinaire, right?" I asked, trying not to sound too knowledgeable of the subject, "sorry, my friend told me a list of people to look out for when I was here, and I'm sure Edward Cullen was the first three."

"Bella?" Edward growled, "her?"

"I've known her all my live and I value her opinions," I told him.

"That means, what?"

"She says you're evil, and my motto prevents me from dating you," I rounded up.

"She _did _kick me in the balls," Edward came up with an excuse for his perverse actions. I slid off the table as smoothly as I could and I walked over to Edward. I could tell by his expression that he was drinking me up, especially the legs.

"I've been cheated on before," I informed him, "I don't want to go through that humiliation again."

"I would never, ever, ever," Edward murmured, his hands travelling up my thigh. I slapped them and kept my hands on them.

"Prove it then," I told him, "if you can prove that you will never cheat on me I'll consider going out with you."

I looked at the back of the classroom and saw the clock signalling that this meet and greet session was over. I turned around and walked to the door.

"Can I have another kiss?"

"No." I called out before opening the door and turning towards the Gym.

Not before I was pulled into an empty classroom against my will.

"Can you please tell me how the song that I co-composed with _Bella Swan_ ended up as the serenading song _Peyton Steele _sang?"

Ah, Jasper.

Another complication.

* * *

_Cliffhanger. I know you guys hate them, but...I love doing them. Plus, come on how wasn't Jasper to know? And I am on some updating roll, because I think I last updated this story like 2 days ago? Aside from my 50-review special update, pretty much not updated this quick before. 100 reviews? Ah, joking. I literally would _die_ if that happened. And update tomorrow. _

_Title reference is to 3OH!3's song, pretty much fits this chapter._

_&I hope you guys like the song, and if you don't, then the purpose of the song was so that 'Peyton' would kiss Edward in hope to seduce him. Oh yes, now we're finally getting up to the fluffy parts. _

_Now the final question of the night (its 2am in England, so I'd wager early morning) is: What is Edward going to do to win 'Peyton's' heart? _

_Haha, peace out._

_bexx. _


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. Title reference to the Daisy Dares You song I had mentioned two chapters ago. _

* * *

**Stop! I'm not your number one enemy.**

* * *

"Well?" Jasper demanded. His hazel eyes, which were so identical to Rosalie's, flashed curiously.

"Bella, writes songs for me," I stammered out as soon as my brain was coherent, "We're really good friends."

"Really?" Jasper questioned, biting his upper lip and walking around me. He looked at me several times before saying, "then why do you have the same voice as Bella?"

"We've known each other since we were born." That wasn't a lie because it was technically the truth. "We lived in the same area." Another vague truth.

Jasper opened his mouth but I cut him short, "Jasper, didn't you say that Peyton Steele did that fantastic solo in the song, do you think that Bella could repeat the same solo?"

"A-HA!" Jasper boomed with a gleaming white smile, "I only said that at the lunch table, where _Bella Swan _was."

Shit, shit, shit....

"She t-told me," I spluttered, partly in anger that I had completely revealed myself.

"No, no. Oh, God, how have I been so dense?" Jasper wondered aloud, "that day when you heard what Edward said you looked positively sick and adamant that Peyton wouldn't do it, and then you ran off with Alice. Alice knew!"

I took a step back, and my back collided with the wall. My breath caught as Jasper walked around the room in a circle whilst running through his hands through his head agitatedly.

"And then, Rosalie, I've never seen her so cruel to anyone in the world when she went at you last week, and at home she looked more guilty than anything, and despite being able to tell what was up, I couldn't tell what she was doing."

He jerked his head towards me.

"I'm surprised you haven't got a record contract yet," he whispered to himself more than at me, "I can't believe I haven't even seen this before!"

"Um, Jasper?" I said tentatively, taking a step forward where he was frozen to the stop.

"Oh, God," Jasper said, drawing out the two words.

"Surprise!" I exclaimed quite weakly and I gave him some jazz hands. Jasper exhaled and grabbed a chair for support. He inhaled deeply as if he was warming up for a long yoga session and I could tell that he was processing the shocking information.

"Alice wasn't lying when she said that she could get Peyton Steele to seduce Edward," Jasper stated hesitantly, he looked up at me and then cradled his head in his hands and moaned in some sort of despair.

"What is it?"

"I called you hot," Jasper moaned into his hands, "I used to have a crush on you."

"It's okay, I get that a lot," I reassured walking closer to Jasper who continued to groan into his hands and then he looked up at me with a bright, red face.

"Once, I stalked your tour van from across America to hopefully get your autograph," Jasper confessed quietly.

"That was _you_?" I shouted incredulously. He went beetroot red and I composed myself, "Wow, I don't get that a lot."

"I feel so stupid now," Jasper muttered and I walked across the classroom and hugged him. He stiffened under my embrace.

"It's better if you don't see me as Peyton Steele and just as Bella."

"Alice knows, Rosalie knows, who else knows?" Jasper asked suddenly.

"Jacob knows, well, Jacob has known for like 3 years," I told him truthfully, "and now you."

"Wow," Jasper whispered, "I don't understand, why are you here in Forks?"

"Well, it's a long story and there's a party I need to attend to," I replied loftily as I turned around and walked out of the classroom. This time I was more preoccupied to find the Gym so that I could go to the party and hopefully bring the Quileutes some justice. Jasper followed behind me and I saw that Renee was looking for me at the door of the Gym.

"Ten minutes," she informed be through tight lips.

"Fifteen," I bargained, just for the sake of bargaining. Renee looked at me, as if to say 'really?' and then nodded stiffly. I walked into the Gym-turned-disco and I could feel everyone's eyes on me. Ignoring the 'come-dance-with-me' urges from Jessica Stanley and co, and 'come-fuck-me' from the guys who usually made sure I walked out of Gym bruised, I stormed straight ahead to the person I wanted to make sure had a better life at high school.

"Jake!" I shouted towards the tall, figure who was dancing with Leah.

"Be-Peyton!" he said in a shocked voice. Leah frowned and I guessed that Jacob had never told her about knowing Peyton Steele. "How are you?"

"Bella told me all about you, apparently you car pool her?" I said loudly, to clarify any fear that Leah may have had about Jacob keeping secrets from her.

"Yeah, yeah..." Jacob murmured and I threw my arms around him, "thanks for being such a good friend to her."

Jacob was still shell-shocked when I waded my way through party-goers and found Rosalie and Alice.

"So, what happened?" Rosalie launched onto the topic immediately.

"Did you kiss? Apart from that obvious one onstage, nice song by the way," Alice gushed.

"Nothing. Much. Happened." I replied slowly and as nonchalantly as I could. Rosalie and Alice would have started to pursue more of a conversation, had they not have been interrupted by a loud cough. Rosalie and Alice were practically writhing with happiness and were whispering to each other and I didn't need to be able to recognise coughs to realise who the person was. Damn traitors. If the person was as clever as his adopted-sister was, then we would have had a very, big problem.

"Edward," I greeted with a sickly-sweet tone to my annoyed voice, "I didn't expect to see you again."

"Yeah," Edward muttered shyly. Was he shy? Score one for Peyton, "I was wondering if you wanted to dance."

I could literally see other guys salivating to ask the same questions, and I had no intention to gyrate with any of them.

"As long as it doesn't involve grinding and dropping it like it's hot, then I'm fine with it," I shrugged trying to be nonchalant about it. Edward looked slightly disappointed but then perked up when I took his hand. He led me to the centre of the Gym and under the glimmering the disco ball. Instead of the mad-raving dancing that was expected of me around the Gym, I just swayed to the beat. Edward put his hands around me and we kind of swayed oddly amongst the jumping, gyrating, hormone-fuelled adolescents around us. Every so often, Edward's hand would slip down and I was trying hard to make sure his hands stayed at my waist. After a third time, Edward moaned in my ear.

"Why are you so obstinate about being so pure?" he muttered into my ear, "it just makes it so much harder to resist you."

Edward Cullen was actually saying _that_ to me. Really. I had to shake my head a few times to make sure I was actually awake. Had he really not noticed me as Bella Swan yet? Luckily, Edward took this as some kind of weird dance move and we continued to sway.

"I'm not being obstinate," I replied, "I am just like that naturally."

Edward let out another moan of pleasure of some sort. Did that really get him off? Two-nil.

"Plus, you wouldn't like it if someone had their hands all over you, would you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked at me curiously, and then shook his head as if trying to forget something.

"No, I suppose not," he answered.

"Good, because I don't intend on having someone's hands all over me."

"That's good, because I'd burn their hands off."

"Even yours?"

He chuckled, "Except those hands."

The song ended and I smiled at Edward.

"Thanks," I said politely.

"My absolute pleasure."

I winked at him and then walked out of the crowd back to where Rosalie and Emmett were standing. Emmett looked a little flustered as I introduced myself to him. I guess Jasper was going to tell Alice that he knew.

"Wow, really, I-I..."

"Don't worry, Emmett, you can say it," Rosalie assured rolling her eyes. Emmett looked at her adoringly.

"I'm, one of your...biggest fans!" Emmett exclaimed and engulfed me in a big hug.

"You. Big. Goof!" I cried out and Emmett looked even more flustered to be called a name by me. Apparently, this meant that I would remember him more easily, and think of him every time I said goof. I promised him that he would be the only goof in my life and he looked self-satisfied. He looked somewhere behind me.

"JASPER!" he bellowed, louder than the pounding music. I think an ear drum burst, or was severely abused. "PEYTON STEELE CALLED ME A GOOF!"

There was a mass chuckling as it was explained to Emmett that it wasn't a necessarily a good thing. He shrugged and murmured to Rosalie and me, "that it makes me special."

I laughed and checked my wrist, even though it had no watch. I told the pair that I had to go, and to send regards to Alice and a still-shell-shocked Jasper. Despite having said that they would get the star treatment alongside the Cullens and Hales, I hadn't really given them the time of day tonight. So, I gave them personal greeting and a hug before departing. I just hoped that life got better for them on Monday.

*

"She. Was. Amazing."

"Can't believe that Cullen won that competition."

"Did you hear? That money she raised for charity? Apparently part of it is going to get us a new computer lab!"

The news was still buzzing with Peyton Steele and her charity concert on Monday. I didn't doubt that it wouldn't. I just didn't expect this level of excitement and smugness from the snubbed ones that I wasn't there.

"Bella, she was fantastic, it's such a shame..."

"I bet you could have at least sat at the back..."

"I got her autograph...shame you sprained your ankle."

When Jessica Stanley did this, I couldn't help reply with a, "Didn't she completely snub you at the party after it though?"

That shut her up much to my glee.

The worst surprise in the outcome of it all was probably when I went to my locker before lunch to dump my books in there. As soon as I opened my locker, something seemed to burst and then explode onto me. There was a splat and then I felt something gooey on my face. There was a lot of laughing.

Oh yes, someone had placed something that would inevitably throw red paint on my front when I opened my locker. I wiped it from my eyes and shook my hand to get rid of the excess paint. I felt someone called my name and I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Alice hurrying over with a large wad of paper towels. She and I wiped the paint off my face to begin with. The white vest top that I had worn today was literally ruined and had to be thrown away, so we didn't bother with that to begin with. I could still her laughter, and I tried to ignore that with as much of the tattered dignity that I had left.

"This has Edward Cullen written all over it," I growled at Alice.

"In red?"

I turned to see the guilty face of Rosalie Hale, "Sorry, I couldn't help it. It was just there."

I rolled my eyes. I turned back to Alice who looked horrified.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The paint, it dyes!"

I looked down at my arms and saw that there was a red taint to where the paint had been before.

"Oh... that's it!" I fumed and I slammed my locker shut. I stormed down the corridor towards the cafeteria, so quickly that Rosalie and Alice had to jog to stay next to me. I glared around the hall and saw people point, stare and giggle. My temper flared even more when I saw that Edward was the only one who wasn't looking. He definitely had the means, the motive and the calm manner to pull this up.

"Are you going to explain this?"

"Hello, Miss Tomato," Edward tinkled as he looked me up and down with a smirk, "I don't need ketchup on my fries, thank you."

"Don't act as if you don't know," I snarled, "this literally reeks of Edward Cullen odour."

"Sorry, I really have no idea what you're talking about."

"You do!" I shrieked and everyone was silenced.

"Do you have any proof?"

He had me there. Damn. I had none.

"Now can you leave me to eat my lunch in peace?" Edward asked in a bored voice. His tone didn't match his facial expression. He was clearly having a good time relishing my new skin tone. I sat down, pissing him off all the more.

"Just because I can't prove it was you, doesn't mean it wasn't," I replied, "and when Peyton..."

As soon as Peyton was mentioned he changed demeanour, his face completely dropped, "Don't even think about breathing a word of someone else's actions to her."

"Why do you care all of a sudden?" I snapped.

"I like her."

Whoa, what? I think I said it aloud as well as thought it because Edward gave me a very odd look before repeating himself.

"I heard it the first time."

"Oh really? I thought that your brain was taking a vacation with your hearing as well."

I stood up quickly and the chair I had skittered behind me a yard or so.

"Are you that freaking ignorant that you can't freaking tell that-?!"

"Okay!" Alice shouted standing between Edward and I. Sensing that I was about to literally attack him, he had stood up on the defensive. His fists were ready and he was literally taunting me with his damn crooked smile, "I'm going to break this up before this gets ugly."

She probably could tell that I was about to expose myself in some way and that it would not be pretty if I had tried in front of the cafeteria. Plus, the plan with Edward would have been for nothing if I had blurted out what I had wanted to say. Except, I was so mad. Red was the only colour I was seeing and I wanted to see the horrified face of Edward Cullen as he realised who I was, who he legs he had appreciated with gusto, who he had asked to dance.

That would inevitably ruin my career, but for that simple satisfaction, it was worth it.

Without letting me utter another word, Alice grabbed my arms, which were shoved angrily in my pockets, and pushed me away from Edward. Edward and I continued to stare each other down and I was forced to look away when we rounded a corner. Alice frogmarched me over to the girl's bathroom where she was in charge of calming me down. When it didn't work she called Jasper in. After several failed attempts and 'it's a girls bathroom!' Jasper walked in, covering his face with his long-ish blonde hair.

"Jasper is really good at calming people down," Alice explained when I gave her a look, as to why Jasper was in the girl's bathroom. Jasper walked over to me and then took my hands. He rubbed circles on my wrist and I could almost feel a sense of calmness overtake me. Alice was right. Jasper was really good at calming people down. I even asked him if I he came in a portable size that I could carry around everywhere. He laughed heartily at that. After a while, when I was sure that I wasn't going to clobber Edward with my red-stained books, Alice and I walked out to make sure that the coast was clear for Jasper to walk out. We were going to give the all-clear to Jasper but Rosalie appeared with Emmett.

Knowing that Emmett wouldn't let Jasper live down walking out of the girl's bathroom, Alice forced him into a cubicle. With a snap we heard that Jasper was safe and sound from being discovered. Alice and I guarded the doors of the bathroom in case someone wanted to walk in and discover Jasper being in the wrong bathroom.

"Oh, Bella!" Emmett cried before walking towards me with his thickset arms out, ready to squash me. "I'm so sorry about Eddie being so mean to you! He's a good guy really!"

"You. Big. Goof!" I gasped as breathing became difficult. It was _hard_ breathing when you had your lungs crushed. It was realised immediately.

"What did you call me?" Emmett asked in a strange, choked voice. Rosalie was behind him and she looked at me with the widest eyes known to man. She shook her head and mouthed something like 'goof!' to me. I gasped internally.

"I-I said you big-big...moof!" I corrected. Emmett looked at me strangely and was content for a second. Realisation seemed to hit him like a boulder.

"OH!" he shouted and then Alice, Rosalie and I shot into action. Seeing the coast was clear from anyone else, we dragged Emmett against his will into the girl's bathroom. Really, the 'it's a girl's bathroom' debate again?

"Emmett you have to keep completely silent about this," I warned as soon as he was pinned against a wall.

"Do I have to keep silent here? My back is on a tampon machine and I'm not entirely comfortable about it."

We relocated him to a tampon-machine free wall.

"Emmett, is that you?"

"Yeah," Emmett replied happily. He frowned, "Jasper is that you?"

The door unlocked and Jasper strode out, "Yeah."

Emmett whistled lowly, "What are you doing in the chick's toilets?"

"I could ask you the same question."

Emmett thought about this for a second before shrugging and then directing his attention back at me.

"You're Peyton Steele?" he asked, direct to the point.

"Whatever, everyone seems to find out anyway," I sighed before saying, "Yes, I'm Peyton Steele. I've been her for the past three years and I'm here because I punched a paparazzi person and my mother didn't like the bad press."

"I didn't need the details," Emmett remarked, "I just wanted a yes or no."

"Yes."

"Wow."

"Mhm."

"He's taking it better than most of us did," Rosalie noted.

"Jasper took it the worst," I informed the group and Jasper blushed. Emmett pointed at Jasper and mimed laughing at him.

"That's not fair, how did Alice take it?" Jasper demanded.

"She figured it out, the only thing she was upset by was the bag Edward broke," I explained airily. I didn't tell the others how Jasper reacted, as I had already pushed his buttons enough. I didn't want to make him completely hate me, and by not letting Emmett know that he stalked me, he was eternally grateful.

"That leaves Edward, then?" Jasper let the group know.

"And the rest of the Quileutes," Alice added. Emmett wheezed at this new titbit of information.

"Yes, I'm bringing Edward down," I resolved, "He deserves it because I'm going to be called a post box for _days_."

"Sure, sure," Emmett digested what I had said and then looked at me with an expression I had never seen grace his usually humoured face, "But if he really falls in love, don't break his heart."

"Even if it's completely justified?" I talked back.

"Okay, it's okay if I can tease him about it later how much of a wuss he is, but not okay if he becomes completely depressed about it."

"Sure, sure."

I was going to do that.

Totally.

Probably not.

At least I knew that Emmett wasn't going to tell Edward as I made Emmett swear an oath of silence about Peyton Steele and we walked out of the bathroom. If he did tell Edward that means that Carlisle really wouldn't have grandchildren in the family name.

And we should have checked first as we gained some amused looks.

Yes, Jasper and Emmett weren't going to live it down. _Ever_.

*

Biology. I hated most of my lessons because of the amount of time that I had to spend next to Edward. Biology was usually the one lesson where I would be able to score points in out-manoeuvring Edward. The lesson itself should be called, 'Time to totally own Edward'. Edward bustled next to me as I walked into the classroom. I could see that look in his eye. The 'I-am-going-to-get-the-chair' look. At least I had seen the look early enough to sneak and climb under the tables. I cut in front of him and looked at him maliciously.

"Don't," he said weakly.

"I will."

I pulled the chair out and sat on it. I moaned in feign pleasure.

"I got the chair."

"Okay," he answered.

I did a double take.

"Okay? What do you mean okay?!"

"I mean okay," Edward answered slowly.

"What happened to fighting over this chair?" I interrogated. Edward turned to face me and flipped his hair across his face as if it was covering his eyes. His emerald eyes locked onto mine and then smiled. That stupid crooked smile again. Couldn't he smile straight for once?

"I need to be nice to some girl to impress another girl," he replied.

"She must be some girl."

"Uh-huh."

I wanted to swivel around and face the front as I had sat facing Edward. I couldn't move. In fact, I couldn't even _move_. I stood up and the chair remained on my ass.

Oh. My. Freaking...

He was good. Really good. He was going to deny it all over again, and he had made me willingly sit on the damned chair. His eyes seemed to glisten with delight for a second before he focused on the blackboard. I had to stand up and move manually to face the front.

This was war.

He freaking glued my ass to the freaking chair. Freaking wasn't even the word to describe it, for _fuck's _sake.

And there was nothing more embarrassing than having to be cut out of your new jeans and walk to Gym in your panties. That brought my ruined clothing counter up to two.

I had to make my move, and soon.

So after Gym, I gave Edward 'Peyton's' number. Choke on that Cullen. Die while you choke on it while you're at it.

* * *

_Okay, this concludes this kind of arc. Now most people found out. And I had to have Emmett find out in a Joey-esque friends way. I just see Emmett finding out that way. Plus, I hope that you don't get annoyed with my Friends references, but I truly find it a classic TV show._

_Erm, Sunrise-Sophiiee, thanks for the song rec, I listened to Florence and the Machine – Howl. Fantastic. Florence is just amazing. PureTwilightFan15, Chocolate sundae with sparkles does sound tempting, but I've given up chocolate for lent. For my other dedicated reviewers, I appreciate all the kind reviews you give me that inspire me so much. _

_&99 reviews, WHOA. Did not expect. Can I has 100 please?_

_Okay, it's like 3am in England now, so I'm going to hit the pillow (sleep). _

_Love, bexx._


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer._

_Note: Large passage with italics? Flashback. _

* * *

**How's that for being Careful With Words?**

* * *

"_Inside I'm hiding what I truly feel..."  
_  
I spied on my phone which was sitting on my bedside table and its lit light. It was vibrating quite loudly and it was moving subtly towards the edge and could fall at any minute. I glanced over at the clock. 8pm. Who was calling me at this hour?

I groaned as I folded the edge of the page of the book I was reading. I then crawled out of the snug position I was in whilst in my armchair. Jumping over my bed in anxiety, I reached over for my vibrating iPhone. It was a number that was not saved into my phonebook. Otherwise a new and foreign number. My lips played with a satisfied smile, fully aware of whom this could be.

"Who is this?" I asked, whispering the words into the phone as if I had just gotten up. I knew who it was just by hearing the half-formed words as the person on the other line tried to think of a suitable response.

"Um... Edward from Forks?" the voice on the other line was shy and a little unsure as to what he was even doing. I could tell that he doubted that I was Peyton Steele. I could tell why. If you didn't know the secret, Bella Swan _was_ a little neurotic. Especially for Edward. I didn't even know how I would handle someone wanting revenge on you one minute and the next, well, giving you the number of the person who really fancy...

_"Edward!"_

The bronze haired asshole ignored me as he walked to his car. He probably could tell it was me and was deliberately ignoring me. I had to use a different tactic.

"Yo! Cullen!" I shouted my voice much deeper and as if I was one of his football teammates. He turned around with a grin on his face, expecting a thickset guy but instead he was met by a much smaller me. His face dropped and he arched an eyebrow.

"What is it?" he sighed dramatically, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as if it was taking a lot strength to listen to what I had to say.

"I wanted to thank you for getting me out of my pants," I said with a devious smile and he choked on his saliva. His eyes travelled down to my exposed legs which were in my gym shorts, seeing  
as I had not brought spare clothes. I raised an eyebrow and clicked my fingers so his attention was on my face again. He hadn't even taken a double take or recognised my legs. Ass.

"Hairball," he spluttered as an explanation for his perverted thoughts. I knew what he was thinking when I said that sentence. And the sexual connotation my sentence had made. My deliberate innuendo.

"I told my friend, Peyton, how much of a good person you were and she told me to give you this..." I gave him a little scrap of paper with my/Peyton's number on it. That made him double take.

"Why did you tell her I'm a good person?" Edward questioned me, "I thought you hated me."

"I do."

"The feelings mutual," he snarled before coughing and composing himself, "But it was a nice gesture. Thanks."

"You're welcome, I know it was," I sang and he frowned.

"This doesn't change anything between us."

"I know. It would be unnatural if it was different, I mean, you_ being nice to _me_? I'm sure the world would implode and you'd be the cause for the next apocalypse." I rolled my eyes to emphasise the effect. He seemed to ignore my sarcastic comment._

"I still hate you."

I whirled around before saying through the widest Cheshire-cat smile, "I hate you too, wanker."  


I was brought back to the present when I heard a rather loud cough.

"Edward?"

"I won the competition...?" the response was sighed and I could almost vision him running his hands through his messy hair.

"Wait...it's coming to me..." I teased, "Tall, bronze hair, _sexy_?"

I heard an intake of breath on the other line and there was a grunt.

"That was me."

I tried to keep the mirth from my laugh and he seemed to ease up and laugh too.

"Bella told me that she'd given my number to this really nice guy, who seemed really into me. I didn't think that it was you. Fate, right?"

"Fate," he agreed.

I laughed again and yawned loudly.

"Are you tired? Shit. I woke you up didn't I?" Edward asked his voice full of concern. Hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the tone of his voice. It was strange to have Edward Cullen to even consider how many hours that I had of sleep.

"It's okay," I assured, "Not every day that some hot guy calls me on the phone."

Another intake of breath and a low chuckle.

"God, that was a bit forward wasn't it?" I laughed, trying to sound a little embarrassed.

"Not every day that a beautiful girl flirts with me over the phone," he said, deadpan and I laughed heartily.

"It did worry me slightly when Bella told me that some guy helped her out of her pants and it turned out to be you..." I trailed off, "I was a little jealous, really."

Edward spluttered down the phone, "It wasn't like that!"

I laughed at his eagerness to get into my good graces and I thought I heard him laugh a little too.

"She's my best friend, I know she wouldn't do that to some guy that I may like," I told him and then gasped in a fake manner, before saying, "I didn't mean that."

There was a long pause which was interrupted by heavy breathing.

"Edward?"

"Still here."

"Oh."

Another awkward pause.

"I'm -!"

"Do -!"

We laughed in embarrassment.

"You first," he offered.

"No you," I argued back and I heard a chuckle and there was another pause.

"Anyone say something first!" a much quieter voice said and I heard Edward growl.

"Alice..."

I laughed. "Your sister?"

"Yes and I'm going to get her," Edward warned, his voice was a little muffled as if he was turned away from the handset. "Later though."

"Tell me what you were going to say," I pleaded a little.

"I asked you first!" Edward laughed.

"Please?" I added and I was sure I heard a moan or something. Maybe it was my imagination.

"Do you really like me?" he asked, probably glad that I wasn't in front of him.

"Um..."

"What did she say?" I was sure Alice was still in the room and I heard something move and her squealing. I also think there was a _thump_ of something hitting something else.

"I really have to kill her," Edward muttered to me down the phone.

"Well, I guess you'll have to go then," I said wistfully.

"No, no," Edward begged, "Please stay."

"I have to go anyway, I'm really tired." I yawned for that extra effect.

"Oh, okay." The response was a little sad and disappointed.

"Bye."

"See you."

There was a pause and we could tell neither had hung up.

"Edward?" I said into the phone.

"I'm not here..." a voice whispered.

"Sure."

"If you want me to go you have to hang up first," he challenged.

"Your phone bill," I told him.

"Shiiiiit," the cuss word was long and drawn out and there was a little pause before he chuckled, "You mean my father's phone bill."

"You cheeky wanker. I'm hanging up now for him."

"As if."

"I so am."

"Uh-huh," he muttered.

"He doesn't need to pay for his son to whisper sweet nothings into a girls' ear," I chastised.

"Sweet nothings? You're the one who's flirted with me and won't go," Edward huffed down the line. I laughed.

"Okay, before I go, promise me something." This was a challenge, the first challenge of many. I bet he was going to be grumpy from having to do this.

"Anything..."

"Be nice to Bella, for me?" I simpered into the phone. I cannot tell you how much I wanted to rip my throat out and give it to Tanya who would have put my simpers to better use.

"Uhh..."

"Edward?" There was another pause. What was there to consider?

"Please?" I said, trying to imitate the girls that I frequently made fun of. There was a groan on the other end.

"What do I get out of it?" he asked deviously.

"How about I take up your offer of a date?" I murmured, "This Saturday?"

"Okay, I'll be nice."

"Thanks," I whispered and yawned again for some kind of effect. "Well, I guess bye, then."

"No, I didn't mean it when I said that you should go, I _want_ to talk to you, let me deal with Carlisle's hissy fit. I can take it."

"Carlisle?"

"My father," he sighed as if it was obviously.

"Wow. If I called my dad by his given name he'd kill me," I told him truthfully.

"Carlisle isn't my real father, I'm adopted."

"Oh..."

"It's not a story that you should hear before bed," Edward told me.

"Tell me?" I asked, adding the 'I-want-something-now" tone that most spoilt children adopted when they wanted something. I wanted to know that story. If I did then the plan would have been successful and then Edward completely trusted me and then I could totally rip it all from him.

"You should get some sleep," he advised immediately changing the topic when I yawned involuntarily and of my body's volition. No, no, no... I was so close...

"I'm not the one who has school tomorrow," I shot back. I rolled onto my stomach and stretched like a cat, ready for more conversation.

"Touché," he murmured, "I'm so jealous."

"Tell me the story?"

"Another time, I promise," Edward whispered before yawning himself. I yawned as a result of him yawning and he yawned again. We laughed about it and then talked about yawn cycles and how it would be funny to gather people in one room and have a people yawn in a row. After a while, I was getting a little tired and my voice was getting a little slurred as well.

"You are tired, go to sleep, we'll talk tomorrow."

"Heh, night Edward." I don't think that I was lucid enough to fight back at that time. I was just _so_ tired from the fake-yawing and the pass-the-yawn sessions Edward and I were sharing.

"Night."

I pressed the 'end call' button and dropped my phone back onto the bedside table. I sighed a little contentedly before rolling on my back. I slid under my bed covers and switched my lamp off, bathing my room in darkness.

That was the first night I dreamt of Edward Cullen.

*

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I threw my backpack down the stairs before sliding down the banister. I landed clumsily and fell on my knees and I could see the disapproval on Charlie's face. He didn't like it when I used the banister as a method of transportation and risking my health. He had made it clear that if I didn't improve my landing technique the option of doing it was out of the question. Judging by how worn the knees of these jeans were, I doubted my landing technique was improving at all. Plus, I reminded him that I didn't have to waste my time in learning how to land if he put a landing cushion in the place where I would land.

"My carpool is here," I explained my need for sliding down it and he shrugged at me before turning into the kitchen.

"You want some syrup on your pancakes?" he called, completely oblivious to the obnoxious blaring outside our front door.

"Uh... No time!" I bent down to pick up my school bag, "Jake's never been _this_ early before."

When I opened the door I realised how and why my carpool was so early. Instead of the large red truck that I had been used to seeing in my driveway there was a shiny Volvo in its place. I narrowed my eyes and plodded down the driveway to the car itself. The passenger window was opened slowly and Mr. I-Wear-Sunglasses-On-Cloudy-Days was grinning at me.

"Need a ride?" he asked, barely even moving his lips.

"To school or to somewhere you don't know?" I snapped whilst glaring at him.

I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep. He plagued my subconscious mind. On one hand he was snarky with me, throwing lethal comments at me at ease. After recovering from those dreams, the nightmares started. Edward and me at the movies. Edward and me in his car. Edward and me in a hotel room, rocking and moaning and... I woke up. The worst part was when coherency hit and I knew that I had a sex dream about Edward Cullen. The second worst part was when my stomach was in _knots_ and I wanted the dream to continue.

I was glad I had fallen asleep in street clothes. Nothing like a cold shower seemed more inviting at that moment.

"School," he replied softly, snapping me out of my daydream, "I'm calling an impasse again."

He paused. I waited for him to elaborate on why he was calling another impasse again, was it because of himself or because he was forced to? It was really interesting to see how it was tearing him up inside to do it.

"An impasse is a truce," he informed me.

"I know, you've already told me," I shot at him angrily. I wanted to know why but he was clearly not going to offer up an explanation soon so I turned around to walk up my driveway to wait for Jake instead of letting him take me to some unknown location. Again.

"Hey!" he called, "Sorry."

The simple word made me furious. I don't know why I was on edge so much with him today.

_Maybe because you actually like the guy_, a snide voice said at the back of my head, _You already dreamed about him _in that way_, a dream is a wish your heart makes you know..._

I clenched my fist and tried to pass of my livid mood as something else.

"It's going to take more than sorry, to let you off for this," I pulled up my sleeves for extra effect. Of course, the red skin dye hadn't washed off this morning when I showered. Edward stifled a laugh.

"You think it's funny do you?" I hissed at him pulling my sleeves down.

When I remembered it again, it was getting annoying how many odd looks I was getting. Even Charlie had barked with laughter before sobering up and telling me it was a nice and unique look.

Thanks Charlie. Not helping here.

"Nope," Edward said, "And should that happen again, I will make it a mission to find out who it was that did it and give them a severe telling off, is that all right for you?"

"How about the person just own up?" I suggested, staring at Edward's eyes. Or his sunglasses.

"Good idea," Edward clapped my shoulder, "Now school?"

"Bad idea," I shook my head whilst pouting. Despite his eyes being covered with dark shades, I could literally tell when he rolled his eyes. Which he did.

"Look, I promised a friend to be nicer to you," he sighed, "So let me do this for you."

"Friend, or potential girlfriend?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Uh.. bit of both?" he replied a little truthfully.

"You cheeky wanker," I murmured under my breath and he froze. Colour ran onto his cheeks.

"What _gulp_ did you _gulp_ say to _gulp_ me?"

I wanted to bang my head on the stupid car's bumper. I really needed to note down each insult that I hurled at people before hurling it or something like that. That's how Emmett had found out, what if Edward realised the plan too soon?!

"Nothing, you psychopath," I answered, raising an eyebrow. I was trying to pull off completely bemused, but my heart was pounding. If I let slip of anything right now, everything was over before it began.

Something caught my attention.

_Yes, I could recognise that wheezing anywhere_.

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," I literally sang as I sprinted off to the red truck that usually graced my driveway. I ripped the door open and leaped into the car.

"Drive." I instructed the driver and he set into action immediately.

So far, Edward hadn't reacted at all. He didn't even seem to move his car whilst Jacob and I pulled away. I felt my phone vibrate. I didn't need to be Alice to figure out who was calling me. Crap. Shit. Fuck. Need more cuss words. I turned the radio up a little louder to mask the sound of the engine rattling before answering the call.

"Just because you have school and I don't doesn't mean you have to wake me up," I began angrily.

"You-Your friend Bella...she-she doesn't copy-copy your phrases does-does-does she?" Edward stammered on the other line.

"Why, what happened?" I feigned concern.

"She called me a cheeky wanker, which is a little absurd because you called me a cheeky wanker and it's all entirely too strange, I mean you're friends, right?" he rushed.

"Um, Edward, I'm going to need you to calm down," I advised. I looked at Jacob.

"Edward? As in Edward Cullen?" he breathed at me. I nodded shakily and he offered his hand for a high-five. I tapped it gently.

"Bella is my best friend. We talk all the time. She called me a cheeky wanker once and I loved the phrase so I stole it, no big deal." I laughed it off.

"Oh," Edward sounded relieved and added as an afterthought, "I thought you two were the same person then."

I would have crapped myself if I could.

"That only happens on television, Edward."

He chuckled and then without complaint hung up. I let out all the air that I had kept inside when he had called. Jake let out a relieved sigh too.

"Too close," he told me, "That was too close for my liking."

"I know," I put a hand on my pounding heart.

"You need to come up with some better insults and fast."

*

I wished I could say that Edward was a complete asshole to me and that I had the day from hell. _I wished_. When I sat down at the lunch table, everyone looked at me expectantly to launch into a diatribe of how Edward was a complete jerk and how he had foiled me once again, like Jerry foiled Tom. Except, I had no anecdotes to share. Nada. Zilch. Edward had been civil throughout the day, once holding a door open for me, and there was no inadequate touching. He even started an awkward conversation about cheerleading and what _I _thought of it.

Really.

He asked about _my _feelings on a particular subject.

Everyone was shocked and Alice turned to me.

"What did you do?" she asked, looking at me carefully.

"Nothing," I answered back quickly. A little too quickly.

"Really?" Alice questioned, "Then why was Eddie dearest talking to Peyton Steele last night?"

I snorted when she said 'Eddie dearest'. I was sure to use that at some point to annoy him and get him to crack and lash out at me. The others just looked at me in horror and shock. Jake was the only one who wasn't affected as he already knew.

"I don't know, do I look like Peyton Steele?" I shot back.

Jacob, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper all smirked. Alice mouthed a 'touché' at me before changing the topic. Well, changing the tone of conversation from accusatory to informing.

"Peyton should not have let Edward have her number," Alice sighed, "He's going to call her and text her all the time. Even when she's in sch-," Alice stopped herself and thought about what she was going to say next. Smart girl. She wouldn't have problems keeping up a double identity, because she wouldn't be as dumb as to use the same definitive insults. She continued as is nothing happened, "Whilst she's having scuba-diving _lessons_." She definitely stressed the word lessons to show that Edward could tell that it was be just by texting me in class because he was next to me in each and every lesson that I had.

"She could have her phone on silent or in her locker," I responded quickly. I wished Alice would give me a little more credit though, I did think plans a little more carefully. On the spot reactions? Not so much.

"Wouldn't he get a little suspicious though?" Alice continued to ask. Everyone at the table was looking at me and Alice with their mouths agape and following our sentences as if it was a tennis ball.

"Of what?" I said, "she doesn't have all the free time in the world. She needs to do other things too aside from scuba diving lessons."

Anyone beside me and Alice were completely confused by our coded conversation, even people who actually knew. We sighed and then we walked away to continue our conversation without the code, much to their bemusement. They only assumed that we were planning something and they needed to do something to us before something happened to them.

*

Edward was a changed man. He even let me have the side of the bench where we usually fought over. The seat was gone and replaced by another chair but I appreciated the sentiment. I almost did anyway. Edward looked at me, to the seat before back at me again. That raised suspicions. I approached it carefully as if it was a bull and I put a hand out, and pressed my hand against it. It lifted off the chair easily. I felt the smooth surface of the chair and not one bit of it had a strong adhesive on it.

"I don't do the same thing twice," Edward informed me whilst rolling his eyes and looking extremely bored at my rather methodical approach to examining the chair that Edward was offering me. I had every right to check. I didn't want to waste another Biology period getting out of the damn chair and having to be cut out of my pants.

"Does that apply for people too?" I spat at his smug face. Vitriol and anger seemed to bubble to the surface when I heard his smug tone so I couldn't help saying what I had immediately thought. His fists clenched as he stiffened and he squeezed his eyes shut. His lips moved as if he was chanting something calming to himself and then he opened his eyes carefully before looking at me. By then, I had assessed the chair and found that it was safe and had sat down.

"No," he said cheerily with a forced grin on his face.

"Oh, that's what I've heard about you Eddie dearest," I chirped whilst flicking to the correct page. His fist clenched even tighter.

"From whom did you hear that from?" he said through a clenched jaw. His chest looked constricted and his green eyes looked as if they were going to turn a bright red any second.

"You hear it everywhere, Eddie," I taunted, "It's even in the handbook they gave me: Never date promiscuous Edward Cullen."

"Don't. Call. Me. Eddie."

"Why ever not?" I teased, poking his face in three different places. I was definitely pissing him off now. He was going to crack soon.

"No one but my mother can call me Eddie," he growled before standing up and effectively storming out of the classroom. I watched him go and my mouth fell open.

I felt like crap. I never knew that it was his mother's personal name for him.

* * *

_Hey, remember me? Sorry I haven't updated in what seems like forever. With revising and stuff, fanfiction really gets pushed to the back. Plus, if I'm not stressing about the stuff I have to quickly learn (anyone good at Biology?) then I'm sitting by my letterbox waiting for a conditional letter from a sixth-form. Seriously, I have never been so anxious for something since I was eleven and was waiting for my letter from Hogwarts. Yes, _I was that child.

_Today's chapter name comes from Aly & AJ' song 'Careful with words' (A little obvious...)_

_Erm, kind of a 'in depth' thing going on. Is Edward going to tell Peyton/Bella about his parents? Plus a little Edward/Peyton/Bella action goin' on. Haha._

_Love, bexx._


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer and the WB. _

* * *

**We don't crash but we still collide**

* * *

Edward didn't ring me that night. I didn't think that he would. He completely skived school, leaving Emmett and Alice stranded and having to go home with Jasper and Rosalie instead. No one complained about this, they were just amused and were happy, however, instead of relieving me of a big problem, it just made me more unsettled.

The next day I was a little more unsettled, Edward didn't go into school the next day. I asked Alice what was up with her brother, but she just shrugged and told me that Edward had packed a few bags and took off the previous day. She didn't know where he went and when he'd be back, but her tone suggested that it was a frequent thing to happen in the Cullen house.

Man, if I did that, Charlie would flip and Renee would worry. Only one could imagine how Carlisle and Mrs. Cullen were going through now, their son playing Houdini and everything. I was glad that Charlie was so strict on me at the best of times. It also raised a question, where was Edward anyway? It seemed like an answer nobody knew and if Alice did, she was definitely not telling.

I guessed that since I pushed his buttons, he would get a little mad but I didn't think that he'd throw a fucking hissy fit and run away. Jeez. The guy needed a grip. Or a better reality check than I did. So what if I called him Eddie? So what if his mother called him Eddie? Did that mean that she was the only one allowed to call her that, instead of anyone else? My father called me Bells from time to time, but I didn't leave if someone called me that. Otherwise when Jacob called me Bells I'd be in a different country, you know, because he calls me Bells ninety-nine percent of the time. He didn't have to act like such a child about it for goodness sake. It was just a name.

The again, turning it completely 180 degrees there was also the fact that Edward was adopted and his family problems were a secret to anyone outside of the ring of people he trusted. What if it was the only thing that he had to remind him of his mother? I mean, every time I hear Bells I think of my father (which is creepy because Jacob has a tendency to call me that), so what if it's the same for Edward's mother? What if he was really attached to his mother? I'd have stepped on a landmine then, wouldn't have I?

One thing was clear. Edward's absence was just...unsettling for lack of a better word.

Everyone that had been present in my Biology lesson could suss that it had been because of me. Even if people couldn't hear my words they'd probably seen me poke at Edwards pissed off face and then seen him storm off after saying something to me. They would have seen me look a little guilty for being such an arse. This time around though, they kept their mouth shut rather than telling me what they thought and reminding me of it. Or stealing my gym clothes. For once, having Peyton Steele in my normal life actually benefitted me because it literally made me untouchable. I had thought that Alice and Rosalie's plan of outing me to the school as a friend of Peyton would mean they would badger me about details like "can you get me a backstage pass?" or "can you ask her to go on a date with me?" but so far, no one had sucked up to me to get closer to Peyton.

So far, at least.

Plus, a renowned reputation of kicking a person so hard in the balls that it hospitalised them, kept all the desperate boys at bay. Finally, I actually felt good for kicking Edward in the balls. Yet, I digress. Edward didn't come in all week after our fight in the Biology classroom.

"You look like hell," Jacob commented on Friday after Gym. I glared at him.

"You try playing volleyball when you're hopeless at it," I growled as I climbed into the truck.

"Are you sure it was because of volleyball?" Jacob said evasively. I choked and gave him a look.

"Uh. Yeah. Did you know you actually get graded on performance?" I answered, "What other reason is there?"

"Maybe Edward Cullen not being in..." Jacob trailed off. I clucked like a chicken.

"Edward Cullen not being in is my utopia," I snapped, "I've had the best few days without Edward "I-got-pissed-off-so-I'll-skip-school" Cullen on my back every three seconds."

"So why do you literally wet yourself in excitement whenever someone mentions him?" Jacob interrogated, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Do I? Oh... So that explains this wet patch on your chair," I replied sarcastically. Jacob looked at me worriedly.

"Are you serious?" I sighed. That boy really needed to learn the art of subtle sarcasm.

"Jacob, do you think I would urinate in your truck?" I raised an eyebrow. He nodded and I snorted.

"Okay, now we have _that_ cleared up," I tried to cut the tension.

"Are you headed out to Port Angeles tonight?" Jacob asked suddenly.

"Why would I-Oh..." I remembered. My date with Edward. That was if he was still actually going to go. I was glad that Jacob knew the little things, even if he didn't approve of them. I had completely forgotten.

"So...?"

"Let me call him," I sighed and twisted the volume knob on Jacob's radio and the music blocked out the sound of the truck. I wiggled about and jammed my hand into my pocket before wriggling my phone out. Within seconds I was calling Edward. Trusty iPhone.

"Hello?" the voice was gruff, almost choked.

"Sorry is this a bad time?" I asked in my most fake-concerned voice.

"Yeah it is actually!" he answered aloud before breathing haggardly.

I wasn't having any of that. I pressed the 'End Call' button and then threw my phone on the dashboard. Jacob slowly turned the volume down.

"I'm guessing that went well," Jacob summed up.

"You think?" I laughed derisively. We sat in silence for a few minutes, the only thing interrupting it was the clicking sound of the indicator. Jacob turned left before opening his mouth. He closed it and kept driving. I looked at him, before looking ahead at the wet road.

This was new. We didn't usually run out of things to say.

"So...you and Leah, huh?" I began trying to start a new conversation, "How long has that been going on?"

Jacob looked at me oddly, "What?"

"I'm just, you know, bringing some fresh material to the table, that's what."

"You know Leah and I have been dating for nine months, I told you, _nine months ago_."

"Yeah, well, you never told me how you met her," I argued back.

"How I met her?" Jacob said incredulously, "Are you alright? Has Edward Cullen permanently damaged your sanity?"

"No!"

"Well why are you asking me strange questions about Leah and me then?"

"Just wanted to know..." I looked at him with a smug smile, "Have you kissed her?"

Jacob slammed on the brakes, it was alright because he was on my road by now and he pointed at the door.

"Out."

"Wha-? I was asking a perfectly decent question!"

"You. Are. Crazy." Jacob leaned over to unbuckle me and the seatbelt zoomed off me. I grabbed my bag and my phone.

"I am not."

"Are too."

I huffed, "Jacob Black, you are no longer my best friend."

"You don't mean that," Jacob laughed.

"Do too," I opened the door dramatically, "Goodbye!"

Jacob laughed as I jumped down and stomped back to my house. When I did get back, my phone was vibrating.

_Edward Cullen_.

"What?" I answered. I heard breathing, nothing else. I waited before sighing loudly.

"Don't hang up."

"Why not, Edward?" I shouted into the phone.

"Because..." he paused, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude."

"Apology accepted," I replied. There was a pause, which I was distracted from by opening my front door and closing it.

"What was that?" _Shit. Shit. The boy can hear everything I'm doing_.

"Nothing, just someone coming in," I answered flawlessly, I guess lying over the phone was much easier than in real life, "Are you going to explain?"

"I was... I'm not feeling too good, I've been driving for ages and I don't think I'm going to get home by tomorrow."

"So, I suppose tomorrow's off then?" I said, trying not to sound hopeful at all. I tiptoed up the stairs and avoided any creaky steps or floorboards to make my way to my room.

"No, no. That's why I've been travelling, so I can make it for tomorrow," Edward laughed into the phone.

I was disappointed to hear that. Except, why was a little part of me a little excited?

"That's great," I breathed and there was a chuckle. I bit my lip and decided to push the conversation a little further, "Bella told me what happened."

"She did?" The answer was constricted. Like venom.

"She's sorry, she didn't know," I said apologetically, it was true.

"Is she?" The same tone.

"She said something about your mother only calling you 'Eddie'..."

"That's a story not for today," Edward told me devoid of emotion or inflection.

"Tomorrow?"

"Eh, how about never?" he laughed, "It's not something you want to know about, trust me."

"Edward, you act as if I'm not actually a person!" I complained, "I do have secrets of my own too, I bet my stories are far scarier than yours."

"No, this tops all of them, sorry love."

My hand froze. There was silence on the other end.

"I didn't mean that," Edward suddenly said, "I-I, I'm sorry."

I pressed the 'End Call' button. I gulped.

_What was I getting myself into?_

Eighteen hours later, five of which was spent sleeping restlessly because of Edward Cullen plaguing my dreams, and an hour and a half with Jacob (we made up in the eighteen hours) to Port Angeles, I think I was ready for my fake-date with Edward. I booked a hotel room as Bella Swan, and then hauled all of my Peyton things so I could go in as Bella, go out as Peyton Steele.

The paparazzi didn't go to Port Angeles much, and no one outside of Edward, Jacob, the Cullens and the Hales knew about this secret date, so that meant I could go out freely as long as I had a hoodie to cover my hair, which made it possible for me to transform into my alter-ego. I was sat in front of my bedroom mirror. Things weren't going too well so far. Without the trusty Fitz, my hair and makeup was completely blah. There was no way I could ask Fitz to fly over to help me with my hair crisis.

_What room are you in? – Alice_.

I looked up to the ceiling and slapped my hands together. I muttered a small prayer of thanks before grabbing my phone and telling her the room number. About two minutes later, I heard a knocking. I sprinted to the door and wrenched it open.

"'rehere!" I rushed.

"Could you slow that down? All I got was 'ICU', 'grape' and 'eam' which I don't even think is a word."

I repeated my sentence and she grinned at me.

"What do you need help on?"

"Hair. Makeup. Clothes." I stepped back to let her into the room and she frogmarched me to the dressing table.

"Sit." She ordered and I did what I was told.

"Close your eyes," she said and I closed them, knowing that I was in safe hands.

Until she plucked a stray hair from my eyebrow. Damn it, that hurt.

After two hours of playing makeovers to Alice's content, she examined all of my clothes before frowning. She walked over to where she had dropped her bag before and pulled out a dress and some heels. My mouth fell open. What was that bag, a portable wardrobe? Alice offered no explanation and pushed me into the bathroom to change.

I groaned as I stripped down and pulled on the dress.

"ALICE!"

"What?"

"This-This...ugh!" I stormed out and looked at her, "What on earth made you think that I would wear something _this_ revealing on a first date?"

It was true. I had a large 'V' shape to it and it went down to my bellybutton, and the length of it barely even went mid-thigh. I was sure prostitutes wore something like this. Alice laughed when she saw me and she walked over to me before taking the dress off me. She walked around me and offered it back to me. Oh. I had worn it the wrong way around. I twirled in front of a mirror. Actually, when you had it on the right way around, it did look quite nice. Not that I wanted Alice to be smug about it. She didn't have time to be smug though as she walked back into the bathroom and gave me the heels she had paired with the dress. I narrowed my eyes. They had to be _at least_ five inches tall, not including the two inch platform, making me at least 6 foot tall.

"Heels make legs look great, do you want Edward to fall madly and deeply in love with you?" Alice asked. I groaned.

"Yes," I sighed and I looked at her quickly, "But only to rip it all away from him!"

"Sure, sure." She was giving me a strangely disturbing look, as if she was hiding something from me. I had no time to think about what she could be thinking about because my phone buzzed and I grabbed for it before Alice could.

"So... where are you?" he asked as soon as I answered.

"The Downtown Hotel," I told him, "Room 18."

I heard the dial tone as he hung up. I was nervous about seeing Edward, that much was true. Since he had called me 'love' last night we had exchanged a few, light topic texts in the morning. I guess he didn't want to push further, and I didn't want to stop him from his journey home. Which reminded me...

"Alice, where did Edward go?" I looked at her and she continued to pack my makeup into its little bag. She didn't do anything to indicate that she had heard me. When she had made sure I hadn't left anything in the room, she looked at me and shrugged.

"I asked Dad and begged Mom to tell me, but they wouldn't," she answered simply, "They said that Edward needed to cool off and sort some things out."

"Huh."

"I know it's messed up, I don't even know what he _has _to sort out to be honest, I mean, so what if his mother called him _Eddie_ right?" Alice asked me, whilst walking over to the clothes that were strewn over the bed. I had no time to answer as there was a knock. Alice and I stared at each other and she threw herself to the ground before rolling under the bed. Making sure she was covered completely I opened the door.

"Hey," I greeted shyly. I looked at his face and my faced reddened.

He. Looked. Amazing.

Better than he ever did in school anyway.

"I was thinking that it was a hoax," he muttered, "but you're here, you're really here."

"Yes, I _really_ am," I emphasised and he chuckled.

"I must be the luckiest man in the world," he said, drinking me up with his green eyes. I sidestepped to let him in and closed the door behind him.

"No, the luckiest man in the world is probably the person who took my virginity," I corrected, walking past him to collect something like a coat. That was a big step. I had a lot to lose by telling that story, but it was for the greater good. Luckily I didn't have to pick through the mess as Alice had already chosen a coat for me.

"You-You're not a virgin?" Edward stammered, his face was red. I shrugged.

"I was sixteen and I was in England, _he _said that in England you can do it at sixteen, so I did," I explained and he was still frozen, "I did tell you I have some scary stories, didn't I?"

He nodded fervently before saying, "But you're sure you're not a virgin?"

I put my hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow, "I can go ask for it back if you want me to."

He laughed heartily at that remark and just fell into a chair, "That's a lot to process."

"Okay, I gave you my 'I-lost-my-virginity' story, now you have to tell me one back," I bargained with a smile. _Please tell me where you've been...Please tell me where you went..._

"How about I'm a virgin?" he said weakly.

Luckily, I said, "WHAT?" to cover Alice's one. He looked around the room oddly, though, having sensed it from two different distinct places. I fell back into my chair, my knees a lot higher than they normally where because of the heels.

"Um. Yeah, it's not something I like to advertise," Edward said truthfully, "I-um, say that I have done it, which makes girls into train wrecks."

"You're lying! Bella said-!"

"Bella doesn't know anything, she's goddamn new!" Edward growled, standing up. "God, she's gotten this promiscuous thing stuck into your mind. I'm not, I swear to God I'm not."

"No, I don't believe you, get out," I pointed at the door.

"Peyton..."

"I said out."

Defeated, he turned around and opened the door and slammed it shut. I looked in the direction of the bed. I crawled over to the bed, shocked by his revelation, I couldn't walk especially in the shoes I was in. I pulled up the bed sheet hiding Alice.

"Is he telling the truth?" I asked.

"One second, I've just texted Emmett, if anyone knows, Emmett would."

We sat in rapt silence. Until a knocking on a door interrupted the silence. I staggered to my feet and tiptoed to the door. I looked in the peephole and say Edward, running his hands through his hair. I opened it gingerly.

"Look, Peyton, I may not be perfect and I've lied and stuff, but you're worse because I've accepted that you had a one-night stand and whatever."

"It wasn't a one-night stand, the guy's name was James Port and he's not a stand-up guy. He cheated on me."

Edward's mouth opened. I stepped back to let him in. He stepped in carefully and realising that he was safe to come in, he moved back to the seat that he had collapsed in. This time around, he stayed standing up, and he was completely calm down. His acted as if his fingers were legs and walked them up the arm of the chair.

"Peyton, I know you have some trust issues..."

My phone beeped, telling me I had a text. Noticing Edward was closer to my phone than I was, he went to get it for me, I ran past him to clutch it and smiled at him. He looked confused and suspicious. I looked at the text.

_He said that it's true, Edward is a virgin – Alice_.

"You sure as hell are right about my trust issues, tell me, _how are you a virgin_, when your school knows that you're the guy that sleeps around?" My hand fell flaccid down my side.

"How do you know so much about my life at school?" Edward demanded.

"Just. Answer. Me."

"Wait, I get it. Bella!" Edward smacked his forehead and glared at me, "Does she tell you _everything_?"

"Yes, _everything_, so it's like I'm actually there."

Edward looked at me oddly and then raised an eyebrow. He shook his head.

"This is mental," he murmured under his breath, "I'm arguing with someone I really want to date."

"Then tell me," I begged, "Please make me understand."

"We're going to miss the movie..." Edward changed the topic.

"There's always dinner."

He groaned. "Fine. But you cannot tell anyone, not even _Bella_."

"Uh-huh."

He sat in the chair, and I dragged a chair to sit opposite him.

"The first time someone said, 'let's do it', I was fifteen and I couldn't go through with it. I mean, I know I'm a guy but I still think that your virtue is something that you have to give someone you love, pathetic right?"

"No, not really. I thought I loved James Port."

"And my birth mom always told me how she married my, um, dad, and that sex was just something you did when you wanted to procreate, and there was a lot more to relationships and stuff than sex, so, I, um, honour her words," he mumbled the last part quietly. I reached out and put a hand on Edward's knee.

"So, when it came down with it, I told the girl this, and she agreed, but the next day she told the entire school she screwed me."

I was confused, "Why didn't you tell everyone straight?"

"All the guys' high-fived me because I was the first freshman to do it, and I liked that part of it, so, um, I just said that I had done it but I dumped her for lying about it. That's when rumours started that I was the 'guy-who-screws-over-and-ditches'.

After that, girls who had been in serious relationships just came to me, looking for a revenge fuck. So, I'd hold out, hoping that they'd see that I wanted something serious before doing the deed, but they never did, so I'd dump them. I guess rejection from two guys hit them hard."

I reached out and stroked the side of his face, "Eddie, that's just...you should just clear it up with everyone."

He flinched at my deliberate use of 'Eddie' and he knew I noticed it.

"What's wrong?" I pushed.

"Nothing," he whispered, his eyes closing as I ghosted his cheek.

"Shit, I said Eddie didn't I?" Might as well confess to it.

"Uh-huh."

"You never told me..."

"Dinner!" Edward stood up, knocking me back. I internally clenched my fist and smiled at him. He leaned over me to put his forehead on mine.

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Not today...Peyton...I have some things to figure out first," he whispered against my face. I closed my eyes, and the pressure was away from my head. I missed his face on mine and I opened my eyes. He was smiling at me, not the crooked one I disliked so much, but one that spoke his emotions.

"I want to take the most beautiful woman out for dinner and I want her to be my girlfriend," he whispered into my ear. I nodded. He grinned at that point.

"Really?"

"Yes, you've been incredibly honest, and I'm sure you'll tell me some day what you lock away in your heart."

He pulled me up and smiled, this time showing his teeth.

"Can I do something?"

"What?"

"Stay still."

I did what he asked me to. He took a deep breath and pecked the side of my mouth. I moved my head back. I couldn't help the smile that was forming on my face.

Edward's lips. My face.

"Do you want me to kiss you?" Edward whispered into my ear, his words verbatim to mine that I asked him just last week. I nodded desperately and he lowered his lips to mine as he brushed his lips against mine. I froze.

Two emotions ripped through me.

The Bella side of me was disgusted at what Peyton was doing. The Peyton side of me was telling Bella to shut the fuck up.

Edward pulled away and smiled, his hands travelled down to reach my hands.

"Now, the time for talking is over. Time to go and eat."

I nodded slowly, wondering what was going on.

I was sure that: a) I had some bipolar disorder, that only explained the two voices battling it out in my head over Edward, b) Edward was telling the truth, there was no hint of lying in his eyes. I could tell when someone was lying, Charlie told me all the tricks. And c? I was falling for Edward. Hard.

"You listen to Debussy?" Edward asked as I hummed the tune in the car.

"Uh-yeah, sorry," I apologised, "My mother played music when I was a kid to try and inspire me to play an instrument, which kind of worked, I suppose. I like this one, _Claire de Lune_."

"Huh," Edward sighed. He parallel-parked perfectly in front of an Italian restaurant. He opened the door to his side and ran over to my side to open it for me. I smiled at him.

Jeez. Edward did possess from kind of chivalry. I tried to not fall as I stepped out onto the pavement. His hand went around my waist which he retracted as soon as I was steady. He took my hand and led me into the busy restaurant. He assured me that all I needed to do was keep my head down. Which I did. He had tipped a host to take us to a private part of the restaurant. I let go of my hand and pulled a chair out for me. I walked over to the other seat and stubbornly sat in it.

"I'm not a doll," I told him when he looked shocked, "I can pull a chair out by myself."

"Haha," Edward said sarcastically. I shrugged off my coat and hung it over the back of my chair.

"Can I get a drinks order?" a waiter had already been assigned to our table. Edward looked at me pointedly. Most likely he was going to copy what I wanted. Alice had told me this before, she also said that Edward hated iced tea.

"Iced tea."

"Make that two."

If Edward hated iced teas, he was definitely was doing a good job of hiding it. The waiter was looking at me and squinting.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, are you the lovely Peyton Steele?"

"No, I'm sorry you have me mistaken. My name is Regina Phalange." Edward snorted, but I kept good eye contact with the waiter assuring him that I was indeed Regina Phalange and Edward had a problem.

"Oh, oh," the waiter smiled awkwardly, "I'm sorry. I'll get your drinks."

When the waiter was out of earshot, Edward hissed, "How many people do you expect don't watch _Friends_, or to actually believe that?"

"Eh, too many." I shot back truthfully, "People like to believe what they want, but when it is against undisputable fact, they'll find it hard to accept, but they do. Unless there is a lot of counter-evidence, which there is a lot of, for example, what would Peyton Steele be doing in Port Angeles when she's reportedly in LA or Hawaii or Texas?"

"Yes, but Regina Phalange is an incredibly fake name," Edward said, "How many people have..."

He froze and looked at me again, oddly and calculating. I raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, but the likeness between you and Bella is just so startling," he confessed, "She used that fake name when she first met me."

I laughed, "We are-..."

"Best friends, I know," Edward finished for me in awe, "But you're literally like twins. I mean, the likeness between you two...how do you both go out?"

"We don't," I answered, "Bella wants a normal life, so she doesn't associate herself with me too much, but when I can, I'll visit her."

"Can you visit her now?" Edward asked, "Or stay at her house? It would make it so much easier for us if you lived with her for a bit."

I gulped internally. God, this boy was a little good, or something. Did he think I was Bella, or was he just a lovesick kind of person?

"Charlie doesn't like me very much."

"Oh." His face fell. _He actually believed that_? I was sure sweat was trickling down my exposed back. The lies were getting harder to avoid.

"You can live with me?"

"I'm sure my manager would definitely disapprove."

He pressed the lips of mouth together and agreed silently. Luckily, the drinks came and I look a large draught of it, which gave time for Edward to give his food order. I looked at the menu and said the first thing that caught my eye. Mushroom ravioli.

"So..." I began, putting my chin on my hands and cupping my face.

"So..."

"Tell me more about yourself, I'm really interested."

"I have a sister and a brother," he told me, "But I'm adopted."

"Is that part of the story?"

"Unfortunately."

"Dang it."

We laughed and then he sobered up.

"I have an asshole of a father and a really nice mom."

"I take it you don't like your father too much."

"I don't," he admitted. He stopped talking and his eyes glimmered with something. Nostalgia?

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I suppose if Carlisle didn't adopt me, I wouldn't have moved to Forks and met you, right?"

"Right."

His face suddenly lit up.

"Tell you what," he said, "Carlisle is hosting some kind of benefit in two weeks and I'd love to introduce you to Esme."

"Esme?"

"My mom."

"Mom?"

"Not birth mother."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Stop apologising for things you can't help."

"Does it annoy you? Sorry."

He rolled his eyes at me and took my hand, "It doesn't annoy me, it just, bothers me that you have to feel sorry all the time."

"I'm just tactless." I blushed. He reached over and stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. His green eyes were soft as he looked at me.

"Your blush is cute."

I'm sure that if I was Bella Swan he would have ignored that.

_That's right, _Peyton,_ you're fake. Underneath you're Bella Swan. Edward hates _Bella_ do you know that? Every time her name is mentioned, he freezes. He clearly doesn't like her_.

"Why do you hate Bella?"

The question was completely unintended. I guess my subconscious had begun to take over my mouth as well as my mind. His green eyes started to pierce my skin with some kind of untold anger.

"She's just, not my type."

"You have a type?"

"Yes, and she's not it."

"Why not? I'm sure Bella would be offended." She was, in fact.

"Well, she's too fierce and she seems to never back down even if she is wrong, she comes up with these stupid sarcastic comments, I mean, who is she to tell me that I can't wear fucking sunglasses when I want to? Do I tell her that her fucking hair is too straight and it wouldn't kill her to mess it up a little bit?" Edward fumed. I looked at my hair. My hair had been messed up a little bit. I didn't know if that was a coincidence.

"Plus, she took all my friends away from me."

"She did not, just because they sat with her didn't mean she stole them."

Damn it. I said it without thinking and Edward narrowed his eyes at me.

"What?"

"Nothing. Defensive-friend-mode."

"Meh."

Saved by the waiter, I guess as he put my food in front of me and I smiled at him. He plonked Edward's plate in front of him too. His iced tea had been untouched.

"Would you like another iced tea?" the waiter asked me, and I looked at my glass. Oh. I had drunk it all. I nodded modestly and he took my empty glass away and he walked off. Edward looked at me and reached for his glass. He took it and sipped at it. He didn't hide his disgust. I laughed.

"Okay, I was trying to be the typical 'make-that-two' guy," Edward faced his palms in my direction, "Guilty as charged."

"You should be," I chuckled as I spiked mushroom. He rolled his eyes again and then dug into his food.

All in all, it was one of my best dates. We laughed, talked, joked and at one point Edward hauled me up and we danced in the private parlour, much to our waiter's delight. After we were done, Edward paid (I offered for the sake of offering but he was adamant), and on the back of the bill, I borrowed the waiter's pen and gave him my autograph with a wink. The waiter's eyes widened when he saw it, but Edward and I were already halfway out of the restaurant and were speeding to his car.

"So, tell me." Edward started, "Is it my turn to ask questions?"

I paused and smiled, "Yes."

"What is your favourite colour?" he asked seriously and I snickered loudly.

"What is it?"

"Erm. Purple."

"What's your least favourite?"

I said it without thinking, "Green."

Edward's face dropped and I remembered that Edward had green eyes.

"Only because it's like beige-y colours in LA, and Forks is just green. Too much."

"Um...you go to Forks often?"

Crap. I had exposed too much.

"Used to and I hated it." Nice save. He looked less suspicious then.

"Oh, that's why you moved to LA?"

"No, I moved to LA because that's where the recording studios are," I explained, "I lived in England for a while as well, and that's green too."

Edward chuckled. "Okay, favourite book?"

"Pride and Prejudice, easy." I answered. He looked stunned. I guess he didn't think that I like to read classics.

"Marmite: hate it or love it?"

"Never tried it."

"Fair enough."

This was getting hard and harder as he wanted to know about my life. Except, the more he knew about Peyton, the more I had to lie about myself. The more I had to lie about myself, the less I could keep up pretences.

Who would have thought. Me, Edward Cullen and my alter-ego in some kind of weird relationship. I should have predicted that it would go wrong. I should know that it will go wrong.

For now though, I was going to live in the moment and not ponder my mistakes anymore.

* * *

_So, I'm going to make weekly updates a regular thing with this story, as it gives me enough time to write and revise at the same time. Possibly the longest chapter I've ever written, this is like...10 pages long on Microsoft Word? Also, some little clues and hints dropped around to make Edward more suspicious than he already is. Luckily, Bella thinks quick on her feet in situations like that, but still...Alice could tell by looking and Edward is just about able to do the same. _

_Except, he doesn't like Bella too much, and major Edward storyline dropped as well. Haha. Bet you kind of didn't see that one did you? Edward isn't just a horrible womanising guy, which should make all you Edward fans happy._

_Title reference from Alive by the wonderful Leona Lewis. She is one of my favourite singers –smile._

_Next chapter: The benefit, and the major problems when someone is invited..._

_Love, bexx._


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer and the Spice Girls. _

* * *

**You're a hot mess, and I'm falling for you.**

* * *

A week and a half after the date, nothing happened. Edward was keeping true to his word, but breaking it at the same time. He had promised Peyton that he would be nice to Bella, and his method of doing this was to sit as far away from me as possible in class and ignore me. Compared to the over-intimate touching he had done before, this was a nice change. On the other hand, I missed the banter we had, even if it was rolling vitriol spewed at each other.

As a result, I swear I was going to have a mental breakdown. The days were spent completely loathing the guy and the three-hour phone calls at night were spent completely falling for the guy. I wondered how he was able to be cold and unresponsive to the real me, but to my alter-ego he was sweet and caring and I'm not even going to say anymore because I don't like him. I don't. This is purely revenge. But when I went to English the next day, and watched him scrape his chair back and not utter a single word, I couldn't help the feeling of rejection wash over me. English was spent convincing myself I was playing the part of Peyton too seriously. If I wasn't careful, both sides of me would be lusting for Edward Cullen.

Peyton didn't go on another date with the guy, claiming she had to head back to LA for a while, but will definitely make it for the benefit. Having being promised that, Edward didn't push for anymore dates. He probably didn't want to push Peyton away.

Shame he didn't feel the same way for Bella.

*

"Bella, but you have to go," Alice begged as we walked down a corridor, linking my arm in the process and pulling me closer to her.

"I'm busy that night," I told her.

"With what?"

"I'm visiting my Mom in LA," I lied. Alice looked at me, observing me. She raised an eyebrow.

"You're lying."

"Well, I am going to go to LA now," I countered. The bell hadn't rung yet, but I was standing outside the Biology Lab. Alice had begged me to go to the benefit from the beginning of lunch to now, which was nearly an hour. Rosalie had given up in about fifteen minutes, but God forbid should Alice give up. I couldn't even explain to her the reason, because it wasn't as if: _Alice, Edward invited Peyton Steele to the benefit and in case you forgot, I'm Peyton Steele, _was going to go unnoticed by the posse of people that seemed constantly near us. Any mention of the 'P' word would send ripples through the crowd, and some would turn to me and ask when Peyton Steele was going to come back and do another concert, or if she was going to do a comeback tour soon. I didn't even know the answer to that so I went with the diplomatic, "No comment." Classy.

"Oh, please tell me you're moving there too," a low voice pleaded. I snapped my head to the direction of the voice.

You guessed right, Edward Cullen. Wanker extraordinaire.

Note to self: don't use 'wanker' too much, it draws attention to the fact I'm Peyton Steele.

"Haha, very funny," I said sarcastically, throwing my hair over my shoulder and Edward bowed mockingly. When he lifted himself up his eyes raked my hair.

Yes, I had taken his advice and messed it up a little. Despite the fact that it was Edward's suggestion, it did look _pretty good_. Kudos to him for being able to see the potential my once-boring hair had. He closed his eyes and I saw them move under his eyelids. I think he rolled his eyes under his closed eyes to not draw attention to how 'amused' he was with my hair. He smirked.

"I'm here all week, in fact, all year," he winked before putting his hand on the doorknob.

"So Bella," Alice ignored her brother and started on her tirade again, "Tell me why you're so adamant against going to the Benefit my father is hosting?"

Edward froze, "You're not going?"

"I'm going to LA," I said pointedly to Alice and caustically added to Edward, "Did you or did you not just hear me say that?"

He overlooked that, "You should go." I gave him an acidic look and he added, "To the Benefit, I mean."

"Uh, don't you hate me?" I pointed at him with a smile and raised an eyebrow at the same time.

"Yes, and what has this got to do with wanting you at my father's benefit?"

Either that boy was dim, or he was clever and he was planning something. "How about the fact I don't trust you, who knows if you're going to throw me in a pool or something like that? Given your track record, I'm surprised I don't _move _to LA rather just _visit_ there."

"Your best friend, Peyton, is going to be there, I'd think you'd want to see her, no?"

He played well. Damn it, he was on to me. Or something.

"Yes, I do, in fact," I kept my voice steady.

"Well, you're disinvited," Alice suddenly announced. I looked at her and sent her a telepathic prayer of thanks. I just hoped she had a good reason.

"What?" Edward turned to his sister. Alice cocked her head up to face her tall brother.

"I don't want her to be there because of Peyton Steele," Alice crossed her arms.

"Alice, I'm doing you a favour."

"That's a first."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means."

Edward rolled his eyes and looked at me, "I'll see you there, Swan, or else I'm going to your house and taking you there myself."

"Haha! That's if I'm there."

The bell drowned out Edward's profanities and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed.

"I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for Peyton. It's clear how much you two want to see each other and this is a fantastic chance for you two to catch up." He looked at me accusingly, "You don't even sound like a good friend when it comes to seeing your best friend, if I were you I would be glad I saw my famous best friend."

"I see Peyton enough sometimes, the benefit is somewhere social and people know Peyton and if we get too friendly people are going to become suspicious," I snapped, barging past him and opening the Biology door, Edward grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go.

"Please, Bella. This would make her day," Edward begged, his green eyes narrowed and pleading, "I-I want this for her, I want her to be happy."  
"Why?" I shot at him.

"Because, I think...I think I'm in love with her."

Oh. My. God.

My arm relaxed in Edward's grip. I could feel the blood drain from my face as if it was being funnelled through a dropper. Edward let my arm drop and it hit my side. At that moment I didn't care about whatever pain that caused.

Edward. Cullen. Is. In. Love. With. Me.

Not me, Bella, but Peyton, but Bella is Peyton so technically it was me. Stupid complicated maths equation. It wasn't doing me any favours. Plus, he _thinks_ so, so he's not sure, which was a good thing, right? Except, he didn't sound as if he was making a mistake and whenever Renee said 'think' it always meant something positive and...That had to mean that he really did mean it. He _did_ love Peyton, which is me – but we won't go into that debacle again. Edward Cullen was in love with me. ME! Was karma sadistic in some kind of way? Was this my payment for sending the asshole into hospital? Damn it, why was my heart dancing as if it was the most ecstatic thing that happened in my life? I wasn't happy about this, I was moreorless distraught! Fuck, this was getting too complicated. My throat was dry and Edward seemed to regain some kind of awareness as he shuffled past me to our bench. Could my legs even move? Just about. One step. That was good, now I had to take another. The shock froze anything from my legs upward and I walked stiffly the aisle and between the rows of benches towards the chair. As part of being nice, Edward had let me have the chair we constantly fought over, without superglue. I trembled as I sat on it. Thank God the teacher wasn't here yet or else I would have had to be rushed into the situation rather than taking the time I needed.

I gulped before I said, "Are you sure?"

"She's made me happier than I have ever been in my entire life, I just thought, with what I'd done in the past, God would punish me by not letting my find the person I'm meant to be with, but I've found her. Or I hope I have."

"Don't play with me like that," I hissed.

"What? What do you mean, 'play with you'?" Edward asked turning to face me and looked me deeply in the eyes.

My heart rate rose exponentially fast.

SHIT.

I had to stop doing that.

Or at least write a script in preparation to anything he said to me. Now I had to think quick.

"In the sense that, she's my best friend, she's had plenty of guys tell her that they love her and they've turned out to be the biggest fucking twats I've ever met," I gushed saying the first thing that came to my mind, "They've hurt her, so, if you're messing with me about how you feel, you better own up to it before I send you off to hospital because I've chopped your dick off and actually make you infertile this time around."

He shuddered and glared at me before moving his hands to cup his crotch area. I made a 'pfft' sound. As if hands were going to stop me if I was going to chop of his wiener. I shuddered at the thought and I turned away from him. Class had obviously begun by now and if he wasn't going to revert to robotic then I was going to do it for him. Except the different phases of mitosis weren't bothering me at all, currently my thoughts surrounded Edward Cullen.

I was scared. If Edward Cullen was in love with Peyton that meant breaking it all from him, except, I couldn't. _Why can't you?_ He's not the person I thought he was, he's better, he's different and he's vulnerable. _Or is there an underlying reason?_ What's that supposed to mean? _You like him Bella, as your conscience, I can tell you like him..._

Pushing the evil voice of my conscience behind me and focusing on what was _really _important right now which was Biology and planning what I could possibly wear and pass off as Bella _and _Peyton at the same time.

*

Alice was a god. Or something close to that.

That evening we decided to go into Port Angeles and she made one soft-blue bodycon dress look like two different dresses. For Bella, she added a black leather motorcycle jacket, black patterned tights and black flats (big sigh of relief). For Peyton, it was a white headband, a long white beaded necklace and a lot of white accessories as well as white high-heels (not so good here). Alice didn't want me to show off my legs on both occasions because Edward was sure to have that type of memory where he _"doesn't forget the same legs twice_." Plus, do I want Edward ogling at my legs at the Benefit and further ogle at them when they were covered up in Biology lessons thereafter? Not really. Make-up wise, I was going to wear post box-red lipstick, whereas Peyton was keeping it simple.

This was dizzyingly complex, but if I could pull it off then my secret would be safe.

*

"Jeez, Bella. Why don't you just tell him that you're Peyton now?" a voice blared through the speakerphone during the journey back home.

I groaned into my phone. I heard Alice chuckle as she drove.

"Hello, I may not know Edward like you both do, but I doubt that he actually meant what he said," I spoke into the phone.

"Come on, he practically told you he loves you," Rosalie voice surrounded us, "He doesn't do that very often."

"Mmm-hmm. I understand you, but I thought the objective was to pay him back for being the wanker he is, but it turns out he's the complete opposite and he just bigs himself up," I explained, "So I figure, if he just inflates his ego, I should just deflate it by dumping him as Peyton."

"Point," Alice said into the phone and there was a splutter.

"Rosalie, I don't want to be recognised at Peyton Steele," I said into the phone, twigging onto what she wanted. Rosalie wanted me to have my own status, to be popular in school – which to be brutally honest, I wasn't. She believed that if I outed myself as Peyton Steele that would mean that people would automatically like me, but she didn't realise that they would just like the stuff that came with being Peyton Steele – the concerts, the fame and the money from being interviewed by tabloids.

"I'll bite, so when are you planning to dump him?"

"The Benefit."

"_You're going_?"

"Uh-huh, Alice invited me and then disinvited me and then Edward invited me."

There was a sharp intake of breath.

"Edward _invited you_?"

"Ever the tone of surprise," I sighed into the phone which was met with raucous laughter on the other end of the line.

"Fair deal, Swan," Rosalie said, "By the way Alice, aren't you at all interested how I got an invitation to the Benefit?"

"You've been invited?"

"Ever the tone of surprise," Rosalie sighed and Alice and I laughed in response.

"How?"

"Your brother finally asked me out," Rosalie squealed, "Just like you said!"

"Don't bet with a psychic," Alice warned me with a smile, "And Rosalie, that's five bucks you owe me."

Alice was answered with the dial tone and we looked at each other before chuckling. When our laughter died down, I looked at Alice seriously.

"Am I going to be happy?"

"I thought you didn't believe in the occult, or psychics," Alice chastised. I blushed.

"I don't, I'm just interested."

She didn't talk for a while and just drove. When she reached a street that was relatively close to my house she looked at me again before closing her eyes tightly. When she opened them again, I saw that she had a sad smile on her face.

"What's wrong?" I was concerned. Was there something wrong?

"Nothing, you're going to be happy. I know that."

"But...?" There was a stipulation, there had to be in order for her to be pulling that face.

"Nothing, just you will be happy."

She looked at me seriously, her face a mask of severity and seriousness. I backed away slightly.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

I let out a sigh of relief and Alice grinned before reaching to a piece of rolled paper behind her. Her hands squatted between different bags, spoils of our trip falling off the leather seats onto the space in front of them. I raised an eyebrow, was I supposed to believe that a person that had placed what she needed the most, at the back of our things and then she would later have to fish around for it and cause havoc on the back row, to be a psychic? I looked at her again. Yes, I would believe so.

"This is a plan of our house so in order to pass off as both Peyton and Bella, you need to revise where and how to sneak around and what zones you need to stick to in order to do it effectively," Alice said without taking a breath. Going back to what I had thought before. I believe doubly so. I nodded in response. Alice unscrolled the large paper and straightened it out in front of me. After moving around a lot to accommodate the rather large piece of paper, she jabbed at a point.

"After Edward introduced you to Mom and Dad, or just Mom would be fine, you will need to excuse yourself and make your way to this bathroom, I'll escort you there and help you climb out of the window. This is when you ring the doorbell again as Bella."

"Uh-huh."

"Then..."

*

"Peyton, it's so nice to finally meet you," Mrs. Cullen pulled me into a tight embrace.

I had been right about Mrs. Cullen – or Esme as she often reminded to call her – she was incredibly pretty, so much so, she didn't really have to worry about the nurses that fawned over her husband. If truth be told, he should be worried about _her_ attracting attention from people.

I was so glad that she couldn't hear my thoughts as well, because I was sure I was thinking: _I would. _

"Esme, stop embarrassing me," Edward groaned before pulling me away from her and holding me instead. He wrapped his hands tightly around my waist, pulling me even closer and giving me a good feel of his chest. And abs. Speaking strictly as Peyton, they were pretty good. As Bella, I'd rather walk on hell's surface than say anything civil about those abs. When I tried to pull away, he only tightened his grip. Jeez, he was protective. I looked at Esme for some kind of help to no avail. Esme's eyes had lost a little of the sparkle they had before, probably when Edward had blatantly called her Esme, and I guessed she just wanted to be called 'Mom'. Whatever emotion she was feeling she got rid of it quickly, because she beamed me before looking at her adoptive son.

"Well, Edward, I can't help it – she's so beautiful," Esme sighed, touching my chin with her index finger and pulling my face up to her.

Inappropriate thought alert, I was actually tempted to kiss her. She is _that_ hot. Really. That's why I blushed. Not because I was embarrassed by being inspected by Esme as Edward thought.

"She's not a zoo exhibit," Edward chided his foster-mother. She rolled her eyes. As did I. I turned to face him within his grip.

"Said the one who couldn't stop fawning over my legs," I said sarcastically and it was his turn to blush. I noticed that his gaze dropped to appreciate my legs even more. I had to force the urge to smack him for obviously looking at my legs. Then again, the more he looked at my legs thinking that he had sole ownership of them, the more distraught he would be when I told him things were over.

Gee, I wonder who's going to win 'bipolar of the month'.

"It's just," Mrs. Cullen – I mean, Esme, sighed and she turned to look at her son, "You've never brought a girl home to introduce to me, never mind your father's benefit."

Edward blushed even deeper at having been revealed. I think I blushed a little. Was I really the first girl Edward had brought home?

I saw Alice walk over to us with Jasper in tow. I rolled my eyes and released myself from Edward to walk over to her.

"Alice, Jasper," I glided over to the pair. Jasper cleared his throat and covered his mouth. His face went beet red from his mouth up his forehead like a glass of Ribena being filled in a glass.

"You know my name!" Jasper whispered to me quietly and it was met by two odd looks from Alice and me. Edward had joined us and was smirking.

"Why wouldn't I know your name?" I chuckled, throwing my hair off my shoulder and I relished the sight of Edward's face dropping. Alice gave me a 'think-of-a-story-now!' look and laughed whilst I punched Edward in the arm, gently, of course.

"Alice talks about you all the time," I said rolling my eyes at Edward.

"You talk to Peyton?" Edward turned his head towards his sister. Alice shrugged, thinking of a story.

"You think that you're the only one that is allowed to talk to her?" Alice rounded onto his brother and Jasper and I smirked at the pair.

"Uh..." Edward was lost for words and his mouth opened and closed like a fish. Alice winked at me and I put a hand on my hip before looking expectantly at Edward. He sighed before kissing my head and putting his arms around me and crossing them. I pulled away from him.

"I need to go to the bathroom," I said abruptly. Edward was confused for a second before recovering.

"Sure, I'll take you to one..." Edward said taking my arm.

"As much as I would like to see you happy to take her to the bathroom," Alice took my arm from his grip before linking me, "that would be highly inappropriate, even if you are her boyfriend."

Edward glared at Alice and handed me over to her. She gave me a suggestive nudge as we strolled down the corridor to the ground-floor bathroom. Alice opened the door and she sighed with relief.

"Okay, Operation Peyton to Bella is a go-go," Alice informed me and she started wiping my face and pulling off my wig and the complicated clips it had. I shimmied all of the bangles off my wrist and let them fall onto the carpeted floor. I kicked off my shoes violently, embracing the ability to have my entire foot on the ground once more. Alice was coaxing my legs into my lace tights before I had a second to appreciate how soft the carpet was and when they were pulled up she forced me to sit on the toilet as she wasn't tall enough to apply make-up onto my face. I slipped my feet into the black patent leather shoes, pushing my foot in deep enough and pulling it at the back. When I had put both on, Alice had mussed up my hair and my deep red lipstick was applied. She slipped the jacket over my arms before making me look in a mirror.

"Whoa," I twirled around to look at myself in different angles, "Alice you're a star."

"I know."

She patted me on the back and hoisted me up to stand on the counter in the bathroom. My foot went into the empty sink and I almost fell back. I twiddled with the window knobs and pushed the window open. I gave Alice a thumbs-up and she threw me a rope. I looked it warily before looping my hand around it and gripping it tightly.

I guess I was being a little finicky about the whole rope thing. The ground level bathroom wasn't that far off the ground but considering the fact that it would have meant gambling breaking my wrist, it wasn't a gamble I was risking to take. I slid down smoothly and landed with both feet planted to the ground. Alice was peering out of the window and she winked before pulling the rope up.

Now, I had to run around the house and knock on the door. Rosalie was going to be waiting in her car for me, to act as she had just driven me.

I walked to the driveway and saw Rosalie's red Mercedes, which seemed to be missing...Rosalie.

There was a tap on my back.

I screamed.

"Shh, no screaming!" Rosalie whispered hastily to me and she covered my mouth.

"Rosalie, move your hand," I mumbled against her hand which was inconveniently clamped over my mouth. I glared at her when she shook her head. There was only one route left.

"Oh, gross! Bella!" Rosalie hissed, wiping her hand on her sleeve with her face crinkled up. Yes, I did lick her hand. I did warn her. I rolled my eyes at her before storming on ahead towards the mansion to be let in for the second time.

Edward answered with a large smile on his face, which didn't falter when he let Rosalie into the house. When he turned to me, his smile turned upside down and deeper.

"I hoped-thought that you were going to LA," Edward crossed his arms and leaned across the doorframe as if to say he wasn't going to let me in, in a million years. Also, I didn't miss his mistake.

"I didn't want Charlie arresting you because you barged into my house and refused to leave until I was at this party," I snapped, mirroring his crossed arms.

"Well, you can go if you don't want to be here that badly." Subtle, Cullen. Please act as if you want me here, at least a little more than you do now. I beg you.

Note the sarcasm.

"Nice try," I narrowed my eyes at him and climbed over his body. Except, he was freakishly strong and nothing was going to be able to sway him. Not unless, I kicked his shin, lightly, so he wouldn't bruise but hard enough for him to think I was a crazy woman. When he was doubled over and clutching his chin I barged past him, hoping that was enough to let me into the house. Not really. He grabbed me by the waist and we both fell.

Him on the ground. Me on top, almost straddling him.

My heart pounded as if this was a position I wanted to be in more times, a position I wanted to be familiar with. Edward groaned and rolled us over, so I was under him and he was above. My breath caught and I gulped in fear.

_This was something that I would do._

Edward stood up and brushed himself down before holding a hand to pull me up to join him on the same ground level.

"Jeez, Swan, can't you control yourself for one second? You're practically salivating over me," Edward said aloud to the crowd of interested onlookers and I turned red. I ground my teeth and stormed past him.

"Hey, where are you off to?"

"To find my best friend," I spat staring him down with the most venomous look I would muster.

"She's in the bathroom," Edward called out, walking a little quicker to me, "I don't think that would be appropriate."

I stopped and laughed sarcastically before poking Edward's chest. Hard.

"I don't know what you're playing at, _mister_, but let me tell you this," I growled, "I do not _salivate_ over my best friends' boyfriends, normally because they're all assholes, and you're no exception. Also, I've known Peyton all-my-life, and I've seen her birthday suit, and not in the cute five-year-old share-a-bath way."

I waited bated breath to wait for his reaction and he paled before blushing a deep mauve. He covered his mouth with a hand that seemed to grip his face as if hanging on for dear life. I looked down and I _think_ there was a bulge.

Sweet.

I whirled around before storming off to find the stupid bathroom where Alice was just in, probably bored to death now. I knocked on the door and Alice let me in, checking that the coast was clear. She smirked at me as she pressed a button to a tape player. I heard the pre-recorded tape that we had made before to make it seem I was seeing my best friend.

Lucky Jasper was good with all this technical stuff. He had even photoshopped a picture to make it seem as if I was standing and posing with Peyton and he added a little change to our faces so it didn't look as if it was just the same person but one with a wig and so Alice could show it to Edward to try and throw him off his suspicions. It was easier to spot the similarities when it was frozen on a picture. I just hoped he didn't notice the changes.

"I heard what you said, nice one," Alice whispered under the tape where I was just jabbering about some meaningless bull. The chatter died down a little to whispers as Alice pulled clothes off, put stuff on and finished by adding the wig last.

It's Peyton time again. Alice checked that the coast was clear again and opened it to let me out. I tiptoed in my heels, and wandered around the party.

I'm not saying anything about Forks, but there seemed to be a lot of donors in the area. The mansion was huge itself, and even then, it seemed as if I was bumping into several people. I did sign some things for some people and posed in some photographs before someone grabbed me.

"Edward," I sighed happily and let him lower his lips onto mine. He sighed contently.

"I hate things like this."

"Why? Your house is so beautiful," I admired the room we were in.

"Yes, I suppose so." Edward shrugged before leading me away and up some stairs. With my fingers entwined with his I wanted to know what more was there to show guests. He was careful when he led me up the stairs, making sure I didn't trip. The window was open on the second floor.

I shivered. That simple action seemed to catalyse something in Edward as I had his tuxedo jacket over me in seconds. I opposed this but he didn't hear of it, he just forced it on me and wouldn't take it back. I smiled at him and he opened a door.

"Your room?"

"No, just somewhere I board in," he corrected me, tapping me on the nose. I couldn't help the sympathy smile. Did Edward feel like a houseguest in his own house? He disregarded the fancy CD wall that was on the immediate right and walked straight towards his bed. I faltered. He noticed my hesitation, and then turned to smile broadly at me. He bent over to pick up a photo frame on the bedside table before sitting on the bed. He patted a space next to him, to invite me to sit down. As soon as I was next to him, he passed on the photo frame.

"When you saw that I didn't call Esme, 'Mom' you looked a little sad so I'm showing you why."

The woman was pretty, not like Esme, but she was pretty nonetheless. She had emerald-green eyes that were a spitting image of Edward's, as if she had taken out her own eyes and given them to him at birth. Her hair was dyed a flat brown, but I could tell by her roots that her hair was originally copper. She did not have, however, Edward's chiselled Greek God face, her face was rounded and she looked incredibly happy.

"This is your birth mother?"

"Yeah."

"What is her name?"

"It's Elizabeth," he told me, taking the picture back and stroking it lovingly before placing it back onto his shelf. I looked at him, oddly. I noticed the tense he had used.

"If your mother is still alive, then why-?"

Edward pressed his finger against my lips and shook his head.

"Not today," Edward told me.

"But-!"

"I need time."

"I'm your girlfriend." I stared him down, trying to play the girlfriend card.

"I'm your boyfriend and you could be a good girlfriend by respecting what I want."

He didn't mean to offend by that, but he still said it firmly enough for me to close my mouth. I stared sadly at him before smiling.

"Okay, I guess that's reasonable."

He reached out and draped a long arm around my shoulder and he sighed.

"What did I do to get you?" Edward nestled his head against mine and I was about to cuddle him when Alice burst into the room. Edward glared at her, and I found myself narrowing my eyes venomously at her before realising what I was doing. She looked at me.

"Bella's gone home, she went home with her friend Jake," Alice panted, gulping several times.

"Why would she?" I stood up. Alice had discussed this with me before. This was the plan to break Edward's heart, to make him feel shit like he often made people feel.

"Er..." Alice looked accusingly at Edward and Edward stiffened beside me. I felt it, so I acted as if I hadn't noticed Alice and turned to him.

"What's wrong?" I asked innocently.

"Nothing." He had said it too quickly for me to believe.

"Edward spit it out," I said my voice hardened. His arm slumped and he looked at me as if it was painful to do it.

"I may have said something offensive to her," he shot a look at Alice before taking a deep breath, "Or I may have accused her of being attracted to me."

The slap I had been forcing in since he had it, collided with his cheek within seconds. I clenched my fists.

"I thought you said you were going to be nicer to my friend," I snarled lowly, "and to even suggest that she was a boyfriend stealer, that's even worse."

I stood up and threw his jacket onto the ground before saying acidly, "She's my best friend, she wouldn't do something like that, and she's trying really hard to be nice to you, so why can't you do the same?

"As the Spice Girls said, '_if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends_'. It's obvious you can't tolerate Bella, so I'm not going to force you, I'm just going to make a choice between you and her, and I pick her any day, even if she was attracted to you."

I turned around and Alice stepped out of the room to hide herself from Edward who was inevitably fuming at her betrayal, but Alice had said, it was nothing she couldn't deal with as long as she had Emmett.

"Where are you going?" Edward said.

"I'm going to go to my best friend and ask her for her forgiveness back, before going away and never coming back."

With that, I flounced out of the 'room he resided in' and grabbed Alice's hand so she could take me home.

All in all, Edward's heart was successfully broken, hopefully, and I hadn't even revealed who I was. Things were well.

...but, why did I feel so crap about breaking his heart?

_Oh...shit no. _

* * *

_Okay, so I didn't update in my 'weekly thing', call me bad, but I have homework overload, revision overload, work overload and this. Since school started again, my fanfiction writing time has been dramatically reduced and I hear the desperateness in your 'update!' reviews, I feel the pain. _

_Which, by the way, you guys are __**insane**__. 22 freaking reviews for the last chapter alone? I think that's the first time I happy-danced in my box room. (and the last, I assure you), so that's why I give you a 9-page epic. Oh yes. _

_Chapter title comes from Hot Mess by Cobra Starship. Cobra Starship is slowly becoming my new obsession and they have fun lyrics and stuff, so this might not be the first time that you see their songs featured in the chapter title. Plus, the song really captures the story. _

_Okay, and I know that you all want Edward to find out and stuff, but I want the characters to really develop (which may be a bore) and I already have the most sadistic method already planned out. Really. I even feel sorry for Edward, which in the essence of the story, that's not supposed to happen._

_I was asked ages ago (or it seems) what a wanker is. I'm from good ol' Britain, and we use wanker, a lot, which I guess seeped into my writing. A 'wanker' is the British expletive describing a guy who 'satisfies himself in a sexual manner'. (Note, my mother is sitting right next to me, and reading everything I type, so I can't say the real word or else, she demand to read what else I write. Which is not good). _

_Anyway, I think I exhausted just about everything._

_Love, Bexx._

_PS: if you see any mistaken 'r's in words or words that are not capitalised when they should be. My laptop is a complete dinosaur and my keyboard broke, so if you see any mistakes just tell me and I'll correct asap. _


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. _

* * *

**Stop crying your heart out**

* * *

Okay, things were _not _well. 'Things' had a line and I had crossed it. Heck, where was the line when I crossed it? Because, I'm so past the line, I can't even see the freaking line.

I had to calm down or I would get a haemorrhage.

Breaking Edward's heart hadn't given me the results I wanted. Well, they did, but I could feel as if I was stabbing myself in the stomach every time I saw him. He knew he had blown-it big-time and he was atoning for it, except there wouldn't be anything rewarding him at the end of the day when he wanted something back. I couldn't even look him in the eyes as they were either red or purple from lack of sleep.

Was I doing that? Did not having the girl he wanted make him an insomniac?

He was also slowly becoming unstable. Not unstable in the sense that he was a ticking time bomb, in the sense that he was likely to cut himself as a release from everything. As I was in the lunch hall, I saw him, hunched over the table with his head in his hands. Emmett had migrated back over to that table with Alice. They knew how much Edward needed their support at the current moment.

He plagued me with constant calls, texts, emails and probably would have resorted to letter writing if he knew where I lived. Sure, there was the address that was on my website where fans could contact 'Peyton Steele' but really it was just my fan mail management. All he would get in return would be a post card saying: "_Thank you for your kind message. Love, Peyton x"_

That probably wouldn't help his situation. His texts were getting more desperate by the day. Some of his _texts _were beginning to fall into a novella category.

Except, this wasn't the worse of it. It was Thursday of the first week of December when things actually hit rock bottom.

I was already feeling pretty shit about myself. Edward had been barely able to answer a question in Trigonometry, despite having once been top of the class. When called out by the teacher he had the brunt of the teacher's wrath. Edward looked completely defeated, as if he had lost a part of him. He looked at me wearily and I felt compelled to give him the answer so I whispered him it and when he told the teacher the right answer, he only got more in trouble. He didn't glare at me once, unlike the other girls of the class. And some of the boys.

So when lunch came, I wasn't in the real mood to chat. I hadn't meant to get Edward into trouble and he hadn't even blamed me for a second that the teacher had a long tirade of shouting at him. He was that far gone. This made me feel guiltier for letting a teacher go on at Edward like that, even when it was partially my fault that it happened in the first place. I knew I had to apologise to him, first thing, in Biology. With that in mind, I settled to have lunch with the Quileutes, trying to reconnect with them. In the past few weeks, I felt as if they had faded to the background. Jacob had become a lot less chatty during carpooling since taking Edward down had taken priority and I was determined to mend that. We were talking about random classes...

Then it happened.

Alice's tray of food clattered to the ground as she ran across the cafeteria. Within seconds, her arms were around Edward and he was shaking uncontrollably. Emmett paused his conversation with Rosalie and walked as quickly as he could to the situation. I looked at Rosalie, who had gone pale, and she looked at me, open-mouthed and said two words.

_No way_.

I looked at Edward again and looked back at Rosalie for an explanation and she gave it in two words again.

_Edward's crying_.

No way, indeed. I abandoned my lunch tray and walked across the cafeteria to see for myself what the commotion was about. There was no way that _Edward Cullen _was crying. Rosalie was either having me on with a cruel joke, or somebody gave Edward Cullen a reality check. And too much oestrogen. Yet sure as the sky was blue, Edward Cullen was heaving tears into Alice's cashmere sweater.

He didn't love Peyton that much did he?

"Shh...it's going to be fine," Alice assured, "there's plenty of fish in the sea."

"I wanted... that-that fish though," Edward sobbed.

Really? Did Edward Cullen _really_ just say that?

"I don't get why you're so upset about this I mean, she is way out of your league anyway you wuss," Emmett punched Edward's shoulder and Edward looked at Emmett with as much venom he could muster through his tear-filled eyes.

"Rosalie is way out of your league too, does that mean that if she rejects you you'll be a happy bunny?"

Emmett recoiled and faced his palms towards Edward, "Fine, fine. I won't try and help you, so I'll tell you instead, you have a bad attitude, if anyone's to blame that Peyton got sick of you, it's you, so don't try and pin it on anyone else."

Edward's body slumped a little, bit by bit with Emmett's words. Emmett seemed oblivious and stared at Edward before turning his head towards me, "Any anyway, if Peyton couldn't appreciate you, then that's her problem, she may have gone too far, but it just shows you need to treat people better."

Edward followed Emmett's gaze and looked at me.

I swear, the cafeteria got a few distinct degrees cooler. Just by the look on his face.

"You're revelling in this, aren't you?" he growled. His tone was completely different to what it had been before, like he was completely mad instead of sobbing into his sister's arm. I took a step back, hoping too late that I could retreat away from the situation.

"N-No," I whispered, my voice shaking and I smiled awkwardly, "I couldn't be further from revelling."

"Liar," he hissed the word and stood up, shaking violently. His chair screeched as it was pulled back. He stared at me with as much venom as he could through his green eyes.

I gritted my teeth, "Emmett's right. You're a wanker and Peyton knows it, stop trying to blame other people if you have a complex."

I turned to walk out of the cafeteria.

It would have been a good dramatic exit, if I hadn't slipped and landed in someone's lunch.

Mashed potatoes and bra do not go so well.

With as much pride I had left to muster, I _dramatically _stormed out of the cafeteria, ignoring the catcalls.

_Messages intercepted from iPhone. _

_We need to talk. – E._

_Peyton, please let me explain. I've improved so much, please let me explain at least. _

_Peyton, I want you to know how much I've had to tolerate Bella, she gets on my nerves she knows what makes me tick, but it's worth it because of you. I lost control today because she eternally annoys me but that won't mean I won't learn to accept her. For you, I will do everything. We just need to talk. Love, Edward._

I sighed as I threw my phone back on my bed. Luckily Charlie was out tonight working or else he would have had to put up with my phone going off every second. I couldn't switch it off as well because there may be a moment when someone needed to text me urgently, like Rosalie on advice on Emmett or Alice to tell me not to tell Rosalie anything. Crucial moments like that.

Ignoring the ring of my phone I sat at my computer and started to actually do some homework. I supposed I would have to write my essay on the symbolism in _Romeo and Juliet_ and some point or another. Plugging my earphones in my laptop, I opened iTunes and started to listen to music.

3,000 words later and the _Glee_ albums at least twice I was somewhat almost done. I just had to have some food before completing the last paragraph and the conclusion.

_Plink. Plink. Plink. _

What the-? The phone rang and I screamed. I could vaguely see the caller ID. My alter-egos stalker. Edward Cullen. I peeked out of my window and saw a silver Volvo.

"SHIT!" I yelled, jumping for the bed and I answered the phone.

"You answered," his voice was husky.

"I-I want to tell you that I want you to stop calling," I said shakily, clasping the warm phone against my ear.

"I want to see you, I know you're at Bella's, I've got a cell-phone tracker and you're here and you know I'm outside or else you wouldn't have answered."

I gulped. He was right. I crawled to the window, making sure he couldn't see my brunette head.

"I'm not going to leave until you come out," he threatened. I tugged on my curtains to draw them closed.

"On your own head," I said emotionlessly and hung up on him.

I threw my phone on the bed again and re-plugged earphones into my ears to work on a suitable last paragraph conclusion for my essay. I knew that my phone was ringing but I tried hard to ignore it. I just concentrated hard on the lyrics. Very hard.

When I had completed my essay, I was sure of three things.

One, it was a brilliant essay.

Two, that Edward Cullen was a major distraction.

Three, the teacher would say, "This is a brilliant essay but I can tell that Edward distracted you whilst you did the last two paragraphs."

Because, instead of typing _Romeo_, I typed Edward, meaning I had to correct the last paragraph and the conclusion and I think I had to cut out my thousand-word tirade about how _Romeo _standing outside Juliet's balcony wasn't a sign of love, but rather a sign of downright harassment and maybe, _just maybe_, Juliet wanted a piece of mind whilst she was in her tower, not to be _distracted_ by some lovestruck guy who refused to leave. I sighed as I went through the essay again correctly and editing heavily what I had to hand in the next day.

With the essay out of the way, I was free to do other things. Cook, read a little before sleeping. I looked at my phone and I didn't see the glaring of the screen or screeching of a ringtone. I walked over to it, unlocked it, dismissed the 20% battery left message and opened my recent calls list.

Edward's last call had been half an hour ago.

_What?_

Did that mean he had given up? I had to check. No. I had to go to my bathroom and put on my wig before I could actually do anything. I couldn't just let him see me as Bella, or else one of my pre-prepared alibis for when Edward came here asking for Peyton wouldn't work.

Slipping the wig on very haphazardly, I strode across the room with a mission. I pulled open the curtains and noticed that it was raining. No, this wasn't raining. It was as if the heavens had opened up above Forks and all the water had been chucked out from them, or as if it was some massive waterfall. Anything out there in this rain would be soaked through and could be squeezed dry. Edward Cullen included. But I bet he had already gone home.

I peered out of the window and didn't see him. Heh. But his Volvo was still here, so what did that mean? I looked across the road and saw him staring at me. He looked heartbroken.

I could tell that he was soaked through, that he was waiting. For me. I couldn't let him catch pneumonia and continue to be selfish. I had to make him go home.

Except, as he looked at me, I saw his face lighten up a bit, and instead of the harshness I had witnessed this morning, it was replaced by sadness, and longing.

_And I was longing for him_.

There was no point denying it. I, Bella Swan, will hold up my hand. I had a crush on Edward Cullen, no more than a crush. I was fucking head-over-heels almost as lovestruck as him, with him. I didn't care that he was in love with my alter-ego. I was going to make that work. I didn't care that he hated me. I was going to make that work too.

I ran downstairs as quickly as I could without breaking my neck. The front door was in sight, so I sped towards it, demonically and wrenched it open. Hissing slightly at the rain which was falling heavily I braved a step outside. Realising I could do this, I ran through the pounding rain, splashing through the puddles and I launched myself at him, making him act fast and having to catch me. He did this as if he had done this a thousand times.

Wrapping my legs around him, I attacked his mouth, pulling it closer and closer and closer.

He was right, what he had told me before. Despite all the things that he's done, he's found the right person for him. Despite my past with over-clingy and over-controlling men, I had found someone right for me too, even though I was hiding my real side from him. I didn't care. If Edward Cullen loved the Peyton side, then, I would happily be the Peyton side.

I slid off his body, pulling away from him. I reached for his hand and tugged gently.

"Come inside, its cold out here."

He nodded shakily, unsure what to do. He wasn't enthusiastic about it because I could tell that he was thinking about what to say. He was desperate to get things straight. A shiver coursed right through his body and I felt it course through my body too. I looked back at him, and realised that I could squeeze a bathtub worth of water from his clothing. I let go of his hand and walked to the downstairs bathroom. Grabbing a towel, I directed Edward to a chair so I could dry him off personally.

"Thanks," he said simply.

"You're welcome."

There was an awkward silence. I didn't know what to say, so I kept drying his face and his hair. He reached a hand towards me and pulled it away from his head. I used my other to remove the towel. Finally, I got to see Edward Cullen without his hair filled with the high-maintenance products in it that made it so _hot_.

This was why I envied it because I had expected it to fall flat on his face, but it stuck up even more. It was safe to say, if his hair was full of product it was to tone his messy hair down. I slumped on the floor, unable to think of anything to say. Truly. He was perfect.

"Why did you let me in?"

"I didn't want to let you get cold." That was automatic response.

"So, why did you kiss me then?" His response had been cold, to the point that it was almost frozen.

"I miss you. I should have never broken up with you and ignored your calls. I came back, because I felt so bad, and, I think, I'm falling for you Edward."

He bit his lip, before looking at me deeply with his green eyes. He pushed away the chair he had been sitting on, and grabbed the hair at the back of my neck. I flinched before pulling away. If Edward Cullen pulled too hard, my wig just may fall out. As I had said earlier, it was only haphazardly put on and there wasn't anything to say that it wouldn't come off. Yet, seeing that he looked a little hurt that I had pulled away, I fell onto him and let him control whatever my lips were doing.

After another intense make-out session, I looked at him.

"Why today?" I breathed raggedly. My breaths were short and really, really, painful.

"What today?" Lack of oxygen had probably been a contributing factor to why he was unable to answer me properly. Moments like these only made me wish that he couldn't breathe and didn't have to do so he could answer my question without my having to explain it in simpler terms. A little bit selfish, I know, but the concept is totally hot.

"Why did you track my cell phone, today of all days?"

"I really missed you."

"You can tell me, Bella's gone with Charlie."

"When are they back?"

"Midnight."

He grinned and kissed me lightly on the lips. I think _I grinned_ as a result.

"Perfect," he whispered before trying to kiss me again, but I definitely pulled away with reason this time.

"So, tell me."

"What?"

I gave him a look and he rolled his eyes. He sat on the floor and crossed his legs like a kindergartner.

"Five years ago today, I was adopted into the Cullen family."

He was telling me this? Did that mean he trusted me?

"I-I, don't know how to tell you."

"Just start with the beginning," I advised and he took a shaky deep breath.

"The day that we broke up was the fifth anniversary of my father's death so I guess I was kind of overprotective of you, and snarky with everyone else because of it."

"I'm so sorry," I said as soon as I could move my mouth. I hadn't known that he had been plagued with his father's death, why had Alice let me dump him on that day? Really? Now, _I _felt like the biggest wanker in the whole, wide world.

"Don't be," he growled, "My father killed himself, he was a drunk who hit my mother and we were glad to be rid of him. That's why I had to make sure that everything with you was perfect and that no one could hurt you. I didn't want to be the guy my father was."

"So...what about your birth mom?"

"She's still alive, or so, Carlisle tells me."

He looked past me, staring into the wooden floor. I interwove my fingers in his and he gripped them tightly.

"What happened with her?" His grip tightened fractionally and he gulped.

"She...it was my fault, really...I fell down some stairs and...she was a single mother that was struggling with a teenage kid and they thought she was struggling too much...so they decided to take me away...for negligence..." his words were shorter now as he was on the bridge of emotional hyperventilation, "and...Carlisle adopted me...that day."

He buried his head into my shoulder and he heaved slightly, as if he was crying. I wrapped my arms around him and rubbed circles on his back, like Jasper did to me to get me to calm down.

"So Carlisle was just being a good doctor?"

"He was the one who treated me, so he was the one who filed for adoption and got me taken off my mother." He had calmed down and there was an underlying tone of mirth. He chortled at his own expense as well.

"People say that I should be more grateful about Carlisle taking me in," he chuckled, "I'm not, though, because as soon as I was adopted we moved away from Chicago and I lost contact with my mother. I only hope she's alive."

"What makes you think she isn't?"

"Because, my mother has nobody, her parents died soon after I was born, my father has gone and so have I. He isolated her from her friends so she doesn't have any of them too," Edward explained, "The shock of being alone may have killed her. She was already frail because of my father."

"I-I, don't know what to say," I said truthfully. What was there to say when someone tells you that their adoptive father purposefully took a kid from a woman because she was frail from domestic violence and unable to control when her son fell? I was so glad that Renee had always portrayed herself as a strong, independent woman and hit on the doctor treating me whenever I injured myself, or else I may have found myself in the same situation.

"Don't say anything, just hold me," he whispered into my ear and I held him in my arms, ignoring the odd shiver.

Another three things hit me.

One, I was in love with Edward. As much as I'd tried to deny it and fight against it, part of me has always been crushing on Edward. From that first moment, from fake-naming him and (kind-of) flirting with him.

Two, he was in love with me too. Normally, I would have responded with a 'absolutely fucking fantastic' with a sarcastic undertone, but not now.

Three. I totally knew what to get him for Christmas.

I just hoped he'd like it.

* * *

_Ack, okay, haven't updated in like a week and a few days, that's okay, right?_

_Just had a majorly big exam yesterday (Wednesday) and I have another one on Friday. Fingers crossed? Plus, I'm doing a sketch tonight, so that's nervewracking too. I'm supposed to be the kid that sits and writes fanfiction, not going on stage and making an audience laugh. At least there's four other people with me. –Sigh._

_Okay, __**Mathachild**__, you ask what trainers are? Well, they are _sneakers_ or running shoes, we give them that name because they can be called 'training shoes' and all we do is say 'trainers', cool huh? (Which makes me think, if trainers is short for training shoes, then are sneakers short for sneaking shoes? Haha, ignore me if I'm being random)._

_Not to be confused with personal trainers. Completely different story. _

_To other people who are confused by my British colloquial terms, just ask and I'll answer. I'll just try and stop using my terms so much, but they come out naturally. _

_And thanks so much for the volumes of reviews, I appreciate each one (and read through them like a nerd)._

_And I have to get ready for school, so see you..._

_Bexx. _


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. _

Note: Large passages in italics are FLASHBACKS ;)

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**For there will be no stone unturned, or bubble left to burst.**

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Edward nestled his head next to mine, rolling it slightly before mumbling the three words that sent my heart racing each time he said them.

"I love you."

It shouldn't have made me happy, in fact, excited as he was asleep and if I asked him later on he would say he had no recollection of it. That would be that and the awkwardness would carry on. My luck, eh? He made me insanely happy. Everyone seemed to notice a positive change in me, even Edward when we were in class. I just told him that there was some guy and he dropped it. We actually bonded in the lessons, thinking about our 'special' ones. Little did he know his special one was me and my special one was him. And he was only being nice for the other side of me. He still despised Bella and it was literally tearing him inside to actually be nice. It was tearing me up inside that he hated that part of me.

The nights were the best. I had 'Bella' always going away when Charlie was on a late-night shift, which was three times a week and Edward came over. I had forbidden him from coming over on a night that Charlie could potentially be home. I didn't really want anyone to know and I didn't want Charlie to walk in when things were getting hot 'n' heavy with Edward.

And I thought I was suave. I thought no one knew.

Except, Alice knew. Then Rosalie knew. And they weren't particularly happy.

_"You took him back?"_

_The cold voice took me by surprise and I turned to face a furious Rosalie and a reserved Alice._

_"No..." I lied smoothly, "What makes you think that?"_

_Rosalie inclined her head towards Edward. She raised an eyebrow and I looked past her and saw he was grinning as if there was a hanger in his mouth and there wasn't going to be a person who could take it out. He rolled his eyes at Emmett who was glaring furiously at me. I blushed.  
_

_"That makes me think that," Rosalie summarised, "So you did take him back didn't you?"  
_

_"No. He must have found another shoulder to cry on," I continued the lie, "Not me, definitely."  
_

_Rosalie let out a frustrated sound and stamped her foot before continuing to stamp away. Alice crossed her arms and stepped forward into my firing line.  
_

_"You may have not taken him back but Peyton did, so there isn't a way round that now," Alice said in a low voice, "I just thought there was a plan and you've or Peyton has gone back on it."  
_

_"I-I," I stammered before regaining control, "I wanted to hurt him more for the way he treated me yesterday."  
_

_Alice eyed me carefully and observed my creeping blush and my too innocent eyes.  
_

_"You've fallen for him haven't you?"  
_

_The question was so simple and one word would have sufficed but it was the most difficult thing to do.  
_

_I turned away from the all-seeing oracle and grabbed a lunch tray before clinging on to it for dear life. It shook in my hands._

"_You have, haven't you?" Alice demanded. I shook my head erratically, taking a plate of pizza and plonking it on the tray._

"_Hey, Swan!" _

_I looked in the general direction of the voice that had called my name. Edward Cullen was swaggering towards me as if he had weights in his pants._

"_You left this in the Spanish room," he handed over my pencil case, raising an eyebrow. I blushed a deep red and tried to giggle it off. I turned back to the dinner queue and was too flustered to pick anything other than a slice of pizza for lunch. Not even a bottle of water to chug the dry food down with. I pushed my tray along with a huge grin on my face._

"_I'm so right," Alice sidled next to me and I jumped as if she had put a hundred volts through me. I patted my racing heart for good measure and sighed. I held out my five dollars for the slice and ignored her. She just stared at me, trying to squeeze the information out of me like a lemon. Being as ignorant as I could, I stalked past her, towards the Quileute table and she followed me like a retriever. Slamming the tray down brought the Quileutes to reality and they all looked at me. Giving them my most innocent smile, I chewed on my dry pizza. Alice was stood behind me, her eyes still on me, yet her fingers moved erratically around on her Blackberry, as if she knew where each button was. That wasn't the scary part. The scary part was when I felt my body weight shift and the world spin in front of my eyes. Then I saw a back. That was all I could see. _

"_Let me down!" I punched the back of the person lifting me and they grunted before hoisting me in a more secure position. He then started walking. Alice was looking at me as if I was getting what I deserved. _

"_You-You!" I continued to writhe within his grip, "I'll call my father on you."_

"_This is for your own good," the boy groaned. I recognised Alice's backup plan. Emmett. _

_Really? Everyone was looking at me. Did she really sic Emmett on me?_

_I had no idea where Emmett was going so I gave up trying to escape, just hoping that I could run fast enough to my next class where I can just chat eagerly with Edward, my he-just-doesn't-know-it boyfriend. Emmett stopped in and put me down. He pressed me against a wall and looked at me carefully._

"_Did you really take Edward back?" he asked the question seriously._

"_Y-yes." That was the truth. I wasn't going to evade that._

"_May I ask why?" _

"_He was rude to me yesterday so I thought I'd teach him another lesson." My response was perfected and ready to use. I stared into Emmett's eyes to show him that I wasn't lying, even though I actually was. Emmett sighed._

"_He completely trusts you, just don't ruin his life, he's bound to be rude to you sometimes but stop teaching him lessons," Emmett advised, "He'll just be hurt when he realises it is you."_

_Emmett walked off and I slid down the wall. _

_The man had a really good point._

But, their reaction was nothing compared what I had in stall from Jacob. Jacob had been quiet with me lately and the purple rings around his and Leah's eyes didn't really bode very well, meaning there was something going on. He wasn't telling, whatever it was, and neither was Leah. Quil and Embry had started to spent more time in the library than anything, meaning that day it had been Jacob, Leah and I sat at the table. Jacob knew what happened. I told him straight away when he took me to school, but he hadn't a chance to reply.

He took it whilst we were in the car going home.

"_So, you and Cullen, eh?"_

"_What do you mean, me and Cullen?" I asked, turning to Jacob and glaring at him._

"_I didn't think you'd take him back, I thought you sealed the deal," he said, void of emotion. His hands around the steering wheel tightened slightly._

"_Things changed, he was horrible to me yesterday," I answered back, crossing my arms._

"_He doesn't love you."_

_I took a sharp intake of breath._

"_I know that."_

"_No," Jacob said coldly, "you don't and you need a wake-up call. All he wants is Peyton Steele, not Bella Swan, he doesn't love you."_

_A sob worked its way up my throat. My voice shook as I said, "I don't care."_

"_You do," Jacob said, his tone a little softer, "that's why you're so upset now."_

"_You're wrong," I said as forcefully as I could, "I would stay Peyton all the time for him."_

_Jacob hit the brakes at that point, not caring that he was holding up traffic and several people drove around him and shouted profanities at him._

"_Don't tell me that you've fallen for him," Jacob warned. His voice had been low and almost guttural. He sounded like a wolf, ready to attack a prey._

_I didn't dare answer. _

"_Bells, you're just going to be another statistic, another notch on his bedpost."_

_That was it._

_I grabbed my bag and unbuckled my seatbelt._

"_Don't you dare talk about Edward like that, you don't know anything," I growled before opening the door. I didn't care we were on some road and it would take me twenty minutes to walk in the pouring rain in order to get home. I also didn't care that Jacob was calling me back into the truck. I slammed the truck door shut and started my journey home. _

_Fuck Jacob. I was going to do things my way, whether he liked it or not._

A week later, the Christmas holidays meant no school and no homework. I had taken the bus instead of letting Jacob drive me to school and he got the message after three days. I had decided to skip lunches and just study in classrooms instead of facing Jacob anymore. We didn't even share classes so that was already made ten times easier. The holidays came as a blessing for me, and I had Edward's Christmas present to plan and put into effect immediately. We were going on a holiday together. To Chicago.

At first he was a little apprehensive at having to return to a city where his mother potentially was but he agreed to it. Charlie and Esme had thought we were too young to go on holiday together, but Edward just did the exact opposite of what his parents wanted and I explained to Charlie what this holiday was about. His eyes welled up when I told him what I was doing and told me to just go, that I was a good kid and I was giving Edward one of the most beautiful presents I had ever given him or Renee (and that had included his plasma, which he was immensely proud of).

Edward's present was his mother. I had sent a private investigator into Chicago to find Edward's mother and I currently had a last known location in my purse, ready to give to him as soon as we reached my mothers' apartment.

I just hoped he liked his Christmas present.

"Wow, this is your mother's place?" Edward dropped his bags as soon as he walked through the doors.

"Pretty much," I shrugged, walking into the penthouse. I threw my bags onto the chair and then stood up and faced him. I did a little star-jump and shouted, "Ta-dah!"

He chuckled and walked over to me. He kissed me on the side of my mouth, making me want more, but ever-the-tease he pulled away, leaving me high and dry. God, he knew how to make me feel like that. I rolled my eyes before reaching for my purse.

"Okay so, I came to Chicago with you, but not for a holiday," I explained.

He looked at me in bemusement, "Then what?"

"Well, I wanted to give you your Christmas present," I said with a smile. This time he raised an eyebrow so high that you'd think he'd had extra muscles in that area of his face to do that.

"Why couldn't you give me it in Forks?"

I handed him a piece of paper, "That's why."

"What? This is just an address," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Not _just_ an address, give me a little credit," I said.

"Okay, what then?"

"It's your mother's last known location."

His whole body froze.

After a few minutes his body reacted slowly and he turned to me, bit by bit, as if he was thawing out his muscles and using them as soon as he was able.

"M-my mo-mother?" he choked.

"Elizabeth Masen," I said gently with a small smile. He turned towards me and pulled me into the biggest bone-crushing hug that I had ever experienced. And I had many of Emmett's hug to choose from.

"This is the best Christmas present ever," he whispered and he bounded towards the door, ready to go.

I plopped onto the couch and rested my head against the armrest.

"I'm so tired," I sighed and I looked at Edward. He looked aghast before shuffling back to where I was. I shot up and chortled, "Kidding!"

His whole face lightened up and I felt something lift out of me and into the atmosphere. It felt so good to be able to help someone like that. To help change their course of life and many them inevitably happy despite what outcome there may have been. I ran over as fast as I could without falling flat on my face and took his hand. Together we walked out and went to call a cab.

When we pulled up to the address, it wasn't what Edward had been expecting. I hadn't been expecting a nursing home. We looked at each other, and deciding mutually to try it out and we paid the cab and then went into the home. Maybe Edward's mother worked here. I told Edward this but he ignored me. Edward didn't seem to think so, as he walked straight to the desk, as if his mother was someone who would be a patient here. I could tell by the look on his face how much he hated Carlisle at that present moment if his mother was in the nursing home. I looked out of the window behind the receptionist counter as I walked behind Edward. There were people hobbling around on Zimmer frames in the garden.

They all looked sick. Each and everyone one of them.

If Edward's mother was here, there was little chance of her being well.

"Can I help you?" a middle-aged woman asked him.

"Do you know an Elizabeth Masen?" he asked, propping his elbows on that little shelf that the receptionists hid behind. She looked oddly at him before saying,

"I did, why do you ask?"

Edward and I noticed the tense used and his face dropped. I took his hand and squeezed it slightly to let him know I would take care of it, that it could have a different meaning to what she had implied. She could have moved away, which would make sense. She didn't have to be...no she couldn't be...Edward told me she was a healthy woman...she had to be well. Jeez, Bella. Shut up. Really.

"He's her son," I whispered. The woman's eyes went round when she saw me and she squealed slightly.

"You're-You're!"

"I know."

"Can I...?"

"Only if you tell Edward where his mother is," I bargained and the woman looked at Edward before taking a deep breath. She scrunched up her face and clenched her fists. I knew that look. She didn't want to be the bearer of the bad news.

"She died."

The explanation seemed to shatter through Edward like thousands of steel rods. He shrank a little bit before looking at me for help. I turned to the woman again. Sensing telepathically what he wanted to know I asked.

"When?"

Her face wrinkled up and she hummed as she thought, "I'd say, almost five years ago."

Edward's grip on my hand tightened and I could almost feel him tug away from me.

"What from?"

The woman looked at me strangely, "She had a malignant brain tumour, she had barely weeks to live," the woman explained, "she lived here because of it. This is a home for the terminally ill."

"So she stayed here?"

"Yeah, Dr. Cullen made sure she had the best of everything for the last few weeks of her life."

Edward's throat cleared, he seemed to regain control, "Dr. Cullen?"

"Yes, Dr. Cullen, he was a doctor in the hospital at the time and I think that through some kind of coincidence, he saw that Liz had something wrong and he had her checked and it turned out to be a malignant tumour," the woman recounted, "Actually, when I think about it, Liz did have a son. Dr. Cullen had to beg her to let him take him in and let him have a better life than that of a foster home, and I think that he was supposed to believe that his mother was still alive. Dr. Cullen insisted that Liz make the son believe that he got him taken off her."

"Why?" Edward's voice was raspy.

"I don't know, Dr. Cullen probably wanted the son not to forget his mother and never to forget her and by knowing how much he hated the doctor he would remember how much he loved his mother and how much the doctor had taken from him. The doctor was a very twisted man when I met him, and his logic was flawed."

Edward looked gobsmacked.

"I'm assuming it worked?" the receptionist turned to Edward with a sad smile. She hadn't referred to Edward as being 'Liz's son' during her explanation, but she looked at Edward as if he was.

"His logic is flawed," Edward chuckled, "but yes, it worked all right. I can't explain to you how much I've hated the presence of the man for the past five years, but to know it was planned...that's something."

The woman touched Edward's arm kindly before assuring him, "Everything it going to be fine."

I thanked the woman for her information and after signing an autograph and posing in several pictures, Edward and I left the nursing home. He was silent all the ride back to the penthouse. He kept pulling his phone out of his pocket, looking at it, twisting it in his hands and then putting it back. He kept repeating the sequence until we were back at the apartment building. He continued his mantra of pulling out his phone and putting it back during the elevator ride. When we were at the top penthouse floor he stuffed it in his pocket and stalked out of the penthouse in silence. I looked after him and walked after him. I didn't know how he was going to react when he had the chance to. Would he tell Carlisle he was sorry for being such a wanker to him? I could only think what he would do with the information that the woman gave him. It was only when we were in the living area when he said something.

"Do you think that the woman was telling the truth?"

"I hope so or else I would have given my autograph and a picture for nothing," I joked. I sobered up before saying, "Yes, I think that she's telling the truth."

Edward nodded before inclining his head towards me and taking his phone from his pocket. He opened the large bay windows and walked out into the balcony with his phone pressed to his ear. He was talking quietly into his phone and I smiled. This was perfect. If he was on the phone to his father, or Mr. Cullen, patching the bad blood between them, then that was good and I was glad.

I traipsed into the kitchen after hearing my stomach growl. I made sure that the housekeepers had stocked the kitchen with food and drink before our trip here so the sub-zero fridge had better be full. I opened up the fridge and sighed.

Trust the housekeeper to stock everything in my mothers' taste. Everything was low-fat, low-calories and microwaveable. Damn, the woman seemed to love gloating the fact that she couldn't cook toast without blowing up the toaster. Or just setting off the fire alarm. Smirking at my mother's misfortune when it came to cookery, I grabbed two lasagnes and placed them on the island in the middle of the kitchen. Walking around the kitchen I pulled out a drawer with the cutlery in it and grabbed a fork before stabbing it into the plastic film.

The second one was cooking when Edward walked into the kitchen and stretched like a cat.

"Something smells good," he commented.

"Me. Sorry about that," I said and he let out a loud laugh before grabbing me from behind and dragging me out of the kitchen. He lifted me up and I screamed lightly. He put me down after a while and turned me around. He sniffed my neck and sighed.

"You're right, you do smell nice, what is that?"

"Eau de Peyton," I said and he wrinkled his nose.

I rolled my eyes before leading him into the bathroom. I ransacked my mother's perfume drawer before I reached a bottle with a swan design. I showed it to him and he looked at the label, and true to my words it did say '_Eau de Peyton'_. He whistled lowly and turned to walk away but I grabbed his arm.

"You thought I meant body odour, didn't you?" I accused.

He spluttered, "I did no such thing."

I laughed in response and turned the knob of the tap on. I pressed my thumb against the spout and water sprayed everywhere. He wriggled in my grip and pulled away. He edged towards the shower and put his hands in the air.

"Yes, I confess I meant it in that way – but in my defence, not everyone's girlfriend has a perfume," he continued to take strategic steps back. His hands reached the shower head and he cackled madly and pressed a button and pointed it at me.

Needless to say, I stayed blissfully dry. The button was only the second part of a system. I walked towards Edward who was looking at the shower head and he focused his attention on me. The shower head was facing his head, so I took the opportunity to duck and turn the tap on. This effectively sprayed him with water and he dropped the shower head, making water go everywhere. I slipped into the bath and turned the tap off and normality was restored.

We were soaked to the bone. I shivered and Edward slipped into the bath beside me. He hung his legs out of the edge because they were so long. We sat in silence that was interrupted by the odd chuckle.

"Thank you," he said suddenly.

"For soaking you?" I replied sarcastically.

"No, for repairing my family, I talked to Carlisle and basically apologised for being such an asshat. I never knew how compassionate my father was," he sighed. I reached for him when I heard him call Carlisle his father – something that he wouldn't have done under different conditions. That had to mean things were going to be a lot better in the Cullen house and Esme would get what she wanted. Edward to acknowledge her as a mother. I smiled and he held me against his chest. I shivered.

"Come on, let's get you out of these clothes," Edward groaned as he lifted himself out of the bath.

"You just wanted an excuse to strip me, didn't you?" I asked and Edward went a deep red.

"You started the water fight!" he was adamant of that, "and I was trying to be a courteous boyfriend!"

I cackled in a menacing way and clapped my hands together, "What if this was my grand plan to seduce you Edward? What if I wanted you wet, alone with me, in another city?"

He gulped. I grinned.

"I would say, no."

"Would you really?" I asked, pulling a zip down and my soaking dress needed urging but it came off easily. He gulped again, looking at me in my modest slip and worked his way down to my legs. He knew he was nailed when he saw my legs. His weird love for long legs would be the death of him and I was proving that point. He pushed me against a wall and pressed his body against mine. His kisses worked its way up from my neck, to my face, to my mouth. When they reached my mouth everything escalated. He hoisted me up, panting heavily and lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around him and he reached for the nearest door.

"Not that one, that's my mother's room."

He closed the door as carefully as he could and reached for the next door.

"Airing cupboard."

He put me down and eyed me carefully.

"Then show me what room is yours then," he sighed.

_Well_, that took the romance out of things.

I walked briskly over to my bedroom door and pointed at it. With that, he pulled me up again and took me into my room...

The first rays of sunlight hit my face. I could vaguely remember there was someone next to me and my eyes flickered open. I remembered everything and I smiled appreciatively at that. Who knew that Edward... but that's for me to know and you to never find out. I wasn't even going to think about it in case it got me into some kind of trouble.

Jacob was wrong. I wasn't going to be another notch in his bedpost. I was the first one. I didn't feel good that I had taken his virginity as another persona, but it was _good_ and he enjoyed it so everything else was just a moot point. It didn't matter to me that he was saving it for the special one, and he had proved last night that the special one had been Peyton. Despite the fact she was my alter-ego and not really real, that didn't matter. Everything I had said to him as Peyton, I had meant as Bella. Everything had come from my heart.

I felt him stirring and I kissed his chest. He groaned a little, stretched before turning to face me. He smiled at me through barely-open eyes but then closed them. He opened them wide and looked at me in horror before shooting up and jumping out of the bed. He was quivering like a maniac and he reached for a pillow to cover his modesty. He pointed at me with one finger that was shaking violently.

"What...the...fuck?"

I looked at him in confusion and also sat up, using the sheet to cover my modesty.

Then I realised something.

Around my face, the hair that I could see...

It was brown.

Oh. _Shit.

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_Oh yes, we've gotten to the part everyone had been waiting for. I did say I had a really sadist way of letting Edward know who Peyton was, didn't I? I really do have a twisted mind._

_I have several notes as well:_

_1. Last chapter song was by Leona, again. I love her voice. This chapter is from 'Meet me on the Equinox' by Death Cab for Cutie. I'm totally digging them at the moment. I also love my music. _

_2. Thank you for your reviews. Over 200? I'm in shock, really, you guys are too nice. _

_3. One of you made a really good guess at what Bella was going to do, well done __**cicas33.**_

_4. Thank you for all the luck you guys all gave me for my exam. It went really well and now I have no ICT practicals anymore for the rest of my life. No more HTML and CSS and SUMIF and COUNTIF. YES! WOOHOO! (even though I enjoyed the HTML and CSS part). NB: If you had my ICT teacher, you would know the pain of having my teacher really. _

_One final note, I'm going on hiatus. I have exams over the next two months that can make me or break me, and I need to study. Although, I'm going to get withdrawal symptoms from not writing, it's going to be for the best. My next update will be during my June half-term, which begins, I think, on the first week of June. I am so sorry for leaving you on a cliffhanger (or am I?) like this._

_Whilst I'm studying you guys could just ask yourself this:_

What is Edward going to do next?

a) Go crazy at her for not telling.

b) Love Bella now.

c) Decide to forget that night, forget everything and start all over.

_Until next time, _

_Bexx. _


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer and the WB, once again. _

_Note: "Two Wrongs never make a Right" is Copyright Carrie Swinton. Yes, I wrote another song. So sue me. _

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 17 – And it turned into 'Oh, God' what have I done?'**

* * *

My eyes widened astronomically. My heart pounded against the ribcage that was holding it safe.

_Anymore beating erratically, I doubt that it would need protecting._

I gulped, "I can explain."

He laughed with a hint of hysteria, "Oh, please do."

"I'm Peyton Steele, she's my..." I couldn't bear to say those words that described what Peyton was to me. I gritted my teeth, "alter-ego."

"Alter-ego?" he whispered and hit his face with his palm. He chuckled under his breath and turned away. There were few minutes of silence where my guilt was closing on me, the reality of what was real and fantasy was hitting Edward at long last. I couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"Please say something."

He whipped around and faced me but his face wasn't wrinkled up in anger or pain. He just looked pale, and when he looked at me he didn't even glare at me. Remorse fell on me like an iron bar.

"What can I say?" he asked me chuckling slightly, "Really?"

"Shout, scream, hit me, insult me, pull a prank on me, anything," I begged, my hands tightening on the cover that I had that was covering me.

"I can't shout at you if I have no words," he said emotionally, "I-I..."

"Ask me why I did it," I pleaded.

He closed his eyes and sighed and pinched his nose.

"Do I want to know?"

"You deserve to."

He opened his eyes and his green eyes glimmered in the sunlight that was basking the room with its warm glow.

"Fine, please elaborate."

"I-I..." I didn't know how to start, what to start with. The beginning was an obvious answer, but what if he judged it by the beginning and didn't hear it out to the end? I smoothed out the covers over my body, thinking how I should start telling the story.

"Just spit it out," he demanded suddenly, "I thought you wanted to tell me."

"I-I do," I gasped, "I'm just...thinking how I should go about it."

"Start with the beginning."

So I did. I told him how I ended up in Forks, how I met him, how we clashed and how much I hated him through the first few months and how much I wanted revenge. Then I told him how much I had gotten to know him and his side of things and how much I realised I couldn't be more wrong about him. After everything, I told him how much he actually meant to me, and how much...

"... I really love you."

He looked at me for the first time in ten minutes and his eyes were green, flat and almost dead.

"You did this because I made everyone hate you because you kicked me in the balls?" he asked quietly, sitting on the bed finally.

It was the way that he said it.

I knew _then_ that what I had done was wrong. Revenge isn't sweet at all - it's the worst thing you could do to a person. Sure, I hated my time in Forks High School, but there was Jacob. I didn't have to get involved in the crowd, _but I did_. If I had just kept my mouth shut, denied I was Peyton Steele or refused to take part in Alice and Rosalie's game, maybe things wouldn't be like this. I could have learned a lot about Edward as Bella, he could have fallen for Bella. He could have fallen for the real me.

"I-I...I thought that you'd never find out."

His green eyes went from flat and dead, to piercing and hating in a matter of nanoseconds.

"So, this was the perfect plan? Wasn't it?" he growled, "You have your famous alter-ego, so famous, no one can believe it's Bella Swan from that small town in nowheresville. Not even Edward Cullen, who has kept his heart locked up ever since he was a teenager. You get your alter-ego to play out these fantasies and these lies but it doesn't matter if Edward tells people who his new girlfriend is because they wouldn't believe that she's Peyton Steele, that popstar.

You see, I thought there was something a little off about you. It's possible that Bella was Peyton's friend, but I thought that you were too alike. Your voices were the same, same body shape and you both have the same thing that you do with your mouth."

"What thing?" I couldn't help myself.

He looked at me, incredulous that I had interrupted his speech, "Excuse me?"

"You said I did something with my mouth, I don't do anything with my mouth."

"Yes you do, you both pout when you're really bored but that's not the point, the point is, I should have seen this sooner. I should have known that Peyton Steele wouldn't perform at _Forks_ for nothing, even though I bought like twenty tickets for the competition that it wouldn't be me, and even though we met once, Peyton Steele wouldn't normally keep in touch with meet and greets would she? Moreover, she wouldn't agree to date people that were less than her league."

"You're not less than my league," I whispered and he looked away from me.

"You are so way out of my league, I need a telescope to see you. The people you've dated James Port, the movie star in nearly every movie that wins almost every award he's nominated for. Your best friend is Tanya DeMarchols, the model who face is on every magazine. So, what made Peyton Steele chose to date me, the boy who was an easy rebound target? What made her become friends with my sister, my family and _my friends_?"

"Please don't sell yourself short, you a ten times a person than James Port is," I reached for him but he stood up with the pillow and he didn't stop moving back until his back touched the wall.

"James Port cheated on you, right?" Edward changed the topic suddenly, "He stole your virginity and then he cheated on you, didn't he?"

"Y-Yes, but I don't see..."

"I can see why."

My sentence stayed unfinished. Anger bubbled to the surface, "What?"

"I can see why James Port dumped you for another person, you're a horrible person, Bella or Peyton - I don't give a fuck which one you are. You're obsessed with revenge and having things your own way and you've lost you. Fame, it really has made you into an ignorant brat and I think you should go back into your glamorous lifestyle and keep the fuck away from us normal folk."

He turned away from me and headed towards a clothes pile.

"Is that what you want?" I choked out.

"You keeping away from me and Forks?" he asked, his face turned away from me, "Yeah, pretty much."

My blood froze in the veins.

"I did the most dangerous thing a person could do with themselves, I opened my heart for you and told you I loved you. I took the largest gamble of my life, and this is my payout. A lie," he continued.

I gasped haggardly and squeezed my eyes shut, "You hate me for doing this, don't you?"

"What do you want me to say? 'I can't ever hate you, no matter what'? No, I can't hate you. Carlisle taught me never to hate people, but if there's a list of who I love in the world, you wouldn't be on the list, not even after an animal of some sort that lives on a farm. To me, you're dead. I don't want anything to do with you anymore. I can't be doing with all this drama. I'm done. I don't want a single thing to do with you anymore. I just want to forget this, forget you and move on."

_I don't want a single thing to do with you anymore. _

_I just want to forget this._

_Forget you._

Could he be any blunter?

"Fine. If that's what you want."

There was a long pause where I felt he was looking at me. I heard the door open slowly. I bit my lip.

"Bella, you're a coward. You don't let people see the real you. You're fake, you need to be liked and that's your problem, if-if you can't get people to accept who you really are, how can you expect me or James to?"

The world seemed to shake under me, as he slammed the door shut. A few minutes later, I heard something rolling and the elevator bell rang. I seemed to squeeze and ooze and my body felt like jelly. I fell back onto my pillows, screwed up my face and cried.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I spent Christmas alone. After Christmas, I just stayed in the penthouse. I already rang Forks to tell them I dropped out of school and wouldn't be graduating there, it would take a few weeks for my decision get back to Charlie, but I was in Chicago. There was nothing that he could do aside from physically remove me from the penthouse, but he didn't know where I was. Charlie didn't know that Edward had been with me and he wouldn't tell Charlie anything. He was probably erasing it from his memories as we speak.

My mother knew though. She didn't pay me unexpected visits, but she called to tell me that I was allowed to stay as long as I needed. School didn't have to be an option anymore and she would talk to Charlie about it if he asked her. She said I could graduate anytime I felt ready to, but she would like me to get a tutor and finish high school. With that, I made sure I got a tutor I'd get along with just because for that moment, I wanted to respect Renee's wishes. Renee was being extremely comforting right now, instead of being tactless like she normally was. I don't know, maybe Phil was doing wonders for her.

Whereas Renee was being understanding about the situation, Jacob was not. It was as if he had swapped personalities with Renee. He was angry. He had every right to, but he was angrier at the fact that I had withdrawn myself. He told me that I shouldn't hide away because my lies blew up in my face. Additionally, I had no right to leave him in Forks without as much as a goodbye. When I gave him one, he said that it wasn't the point. He said that he felt guilty for making me angry about Edward but he felt as if in a way it was karma, it was meant to be. I should go back. I shouldn't let someone, especially Edward Cullen, stop me from going back to a place that I loved. I didn't even try to tell him how much I hated Forks and Edward was pretty much the reason why I stayed there in the first place.

"Forks, that's not my world anymore."

Jacob sighed on the other end of the line.

"What do you mean Forks isn't your world?"

"Come on Jacob," I told him, "Forks is a fantasy, I tried to be me there and it didn't work. People hate who I really am, and maybe, you know, I have a complex."

"What kind of complex?"

"You know, a complex where I have to be liked in order to live."

"You do _not _have a complex where you have to be liked," Jacob attempted to assure me, "you're just not good at acting normal."

I smiled at my reflection in the mirror but it didn't reach my eyes, "Maybe that's it, I can never be normal, I'm not like you Jake. I'm famous. I have a life to live, not for me but for my fans as well."

With that, Jacob put the phone down. I didn't blame him. He knew that he had tried his hardest and he wasn't getting anywhere. He was metaphorically hanging up on our friendship. It was final.

I had my life, he had his.

With that, I unravelled the towel that held my hair up. The ten minutes that the dye needed to set in had done its magic. I was blonde. Flawlessly blonde. I had cut out Bella Swan permanently, and my alter-ego had taken over.

Goodbye Bella. Peyton's back.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_Email intercepted from iPhone. _

_Bella._

_I don't know what to say. Maybe, I should start with sorry._

_I'm sorry everything went so wrong and that Edward found out, I knew you really liked him, after a while, and even though I've told him this, he doesn't believe me. He knows I was in on it, but he forgives me, but he doesn't forgive you. He thinks even though I aided you, you were the one who hurt him the most. I hope you'd be happy to know that he's being extremely mature about this. I suppose that's something he's learned from all of this. _

_That night when Edward called us saying that he needed Carlisle's credit card details so he could book a flight home and that he was at the airport I was shocked. Normally, I can sense this kind of stuff happening and I try to stop it, but this time, I failed. I think you were right all along. Signs and feelings and visions and whatnot, they're just bull. I don't know why I ever followed my feelings in the first place. If I hadn't then things wouldn't be like this._

_Having said that, I need to confess. That day, when you asked me whether you would be happy, I was a little economic with the truth. Or rather, telling the truth to an extent. Yes, I saw you happy but I saw you happy when you were _yourself, _not some A-Lister who gets in all the parties and hangs out with the models and actors. I hope one day, that you will see that. I'm not being an annoying teacher, but unless you do, people will not be happy with you. By people, I mean Edward._

_If I offended you in any way, please let me know, or please reply and say that you're well._

_Your friend (hopefully still),_

_Alice. _

"Aha, who is this loser?" Tanya waggled my phone in front of my face. I grabbed the phone and say a mumbo-jumbo squiggle of words. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"I don't know," I giggled. I looked at the person it was addressed to, "Bella? I don't even know a Bella."

"Oh my God, have you not heard of Bella Swan?" Tanya laughed and linked armed with me as we tottered down a red carpet that led into a club.

"Who's that?"

"I heard, she's this weirdo psycho that's claiming to be your best friend, since like, forever, and she lives in some town in some place that you'd never go," Tanya explained in a nasal voice.

"Well, everyone knows that my best friend is you," I laughed and we bumped hips, "not some chick from nowhere."

No, Tanya. You really weren't my best friend. In fact, if I could, I would willingly stand in quicksand than be in your company.

"Hey, how are my two favourite girls?" Two arms broke Tanya and me apart and they curled around our shoulders.

James Port.

Really, I can't believe that I had previously thought that Edward Cullen was a wanker extraordinaire. If it's anyone, James Port fits the title. To a tee. I flinched as his hands moved further south than where they should have been. Like a rational person, I pulled away.

"Aw, come on, PeyPey, don't be like that," he crooned, pulling me closer to him. The salty taste of bile worked its way up my throat. I felt like I needed to throw up over his Italian dress shoes in order to be satisfied with myself. He was the vilest creature that had walked the earth since it was created. Truly. I looked over at Tanya, and she looked as if nothing had happened. She was just looking at the cameras and smiling seductively. Fantastic, I had to have figured that this was a publicity stunt. I knew there wasn't any other plausible reason why Tanya wouldn't care that her boyfriend was groping me.

Please, Tanya. You have to see that this guy is a skeeze.

"Don't call me PeyPey," I growled. God, I had hated that nickname since he had first coined it.

"Or what? You'll jump on me?" he taunted. Damn, he was always good at knowing what buttons to press in order to get a reaction out of me. I glared at him furiously, and as like said in the Bible, I turned the other cheek. The last time I had pounced on someone, my mother had forcibly made me go to Forks. Seeing as I didn't want that as an option anymore and I preferred my new tutor, I turned around and headed for my limo. Tanya could take her boyfriend's limo.

Right now, I couldn't care less.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

(EPOV)

_Brrrrrrrrring! Brrrrrrrrring! Brrrrrrrrring!_

What was that incessant noise? Was it needed at this current moment when I was so tired, and dreaming? I groaned as I opened my eyes and felt the body next to me stir. I stretched, giving my muscles the relaxing sensation they needed before rolling over and seeing the back of the latest girl. I tapped her awake, and she looked at me, wide-eyed and scurried around the room to collect her belongings.

Emmett was right. Sex was fun.

The pitiful creature which had been last night's conquest closed the door behind her. It was a conditional rule: I fucked them for the revenge sex they needed as long as they didn't say a word and left the next morning.

_Brrrrrrrrring!_

I threw a pillow at the alarm clock across the room and it ceased making that God-awful noise. It wasn't long before there was a knock at my door.

"What do you want?"

The door opened and my sister walked in, her nose wrinkled as she peered around the room and raised an eyebrow when her eyes fell on me.

"Is it me or does this room reek of sex?" she asked, to the point.

"What are you trying to say?" I answered back with a question and leaned back on my arms, looking at her with the most nonchalance I could muster.

"I'm trying to say that this is wrong, Edward."

I chuckled humourlessly, "The sex? Come on, it's nature, it's supposed to happen."

"So, this isn't because you found out the truth about Bella and the fact that you lost your virginity to her and it hurts so much for you?" she questioned. What was she, the Spanish Inquisition?

"Alice, you have been watching way too much television," I narrowed my eyes at her. She bit back her reply and she stormed across my room. With two hands grasped with fabric she threw them open. The sunlight hit my eyes and I yelled out. I fell back onto my bed and covered my face with my duvet.

"Edward, you are going to school today," Alice told me, pulling back the covers with a ferocity that can only be compared as animal like. School. Urgh. I didn't really want to go. I hadn't gone for the past three weeks.

"But the sun, it burns," I complained, grappling for the covers back. I kept my eyes closed.

"Aw, Edward the poor vampire," Alice cooed with an undertone of sarcasm, before becoming a lot sterner, "Get. Up. Now."

"I don't get why I have to go to school," I groaned.

Alice looked at me and I could almost hear her thoughts. _Education_. Oh, that. There wasn't much that Forks High could teach me in the last few months of senior year that I couldn't read up on.

"Fine," I moaned and shuffled towards at the end of the bed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alice looked at me with the most horrified expression it seemed she could muster. She threw her palms out and closed her eyes fractionally, "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for school, isn't that what the past five minutes have been about?"

"Can't you wait until I go out because you walk around naked?" Alice said, "The last thing I need to see is my brother's penis, I hear about it enough in school."

I grinned and Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever," she shrugged, "by the way, turn on Channel 3."

"Well, get out, so I can get changed without burning your retinas with the sight of 'the man'."

Alice made a choking noise and sped towards the door without further ado.

I hated school. No, I hated the memories of it. My classes had been changed to suit Bella's timetable so I could torture her in class. Why had I done that anyway? But, that wasn't the point. At first, it started off as a mutual intense dislike for each other, but then it mellowed. I should have known that the girl that I was getting along with was somehow connected to the girl I was dating. I had seen the connections. I shook my head and grabbed the TV remote. What did Alice want me to see so badly? I stabbed the '3' button.

"_This is Good morning with Kate Hayes with Peyton Steele!"_

I rolled my eyes and moved my finger to the 'power off' button on the remote control.

"_Hey guys. I'm going to perform something I'm working on, it's called '_Two wrongs never make a right'"

I watched as she put her guitar around her head and she moved a capo down a few frets.

_It's been several weeks now,  
__And I can't help but wonder why,__  
Things got so messed up,  
In the shortest space of time._

_My heart was telling me,  
Not to do this,  
But my head is stronger,  
I guess some things you can't control,_

_I'm sorry, for what I did.  
I guess I was a little insensitive,  
Two wrongs never make a right,  
So why did I try?  
Why did I try?_

_So many things left unsaid,  
__So many hearts have broken,__  
My words wouldn't set it straight,  
But actions speak louder than words._

_My heart was telling me,__  
Not to do this,  
But my head is stronger,  
I guess some things you can't control,_

_I'm sorry, for what I did.__  
I guess I was a little insensitive,  
Two wrongs never make a right,__  
So why did I try?  
Why did I try?_

_I don't know what to say,__  
I don't know what to do,__  
I guess I should get over you,__  
I screwed up,  
I admit I was wrong,  
But nothin' can ever fix our love..._

_Oh, oh. _

_I should never listen to my head,  
And always follow my heart,  
But not something I can always control,  
But it something I have to learn.._

_So..._

_I'm sorry, for what I did.__  
I guess I was a little insensitive,__  
Two wrongs never make a right,__  
So why did I try?  
Why did I try?_

_Cos, I screwed up this time. _

My hands had curled up into fists and my heart pounded in my chest. Was this her apology to me? Was it me, or did her hair look different? It didn't have as much volume as it had before. It was kind of thin, like...

_No._

Had she completely dyed her hair blonde, to become Peyton Steele, her persona?

"_That song was so beautiful, does it relate to something in real life?"_

"_Uh...maybe."_

"_Oh, she's blushing!" _

I looked at the screen and was served with the sight of Bella/Peyton blushing. God, I had missed her blush.

"_So, spill, Peyton. Who's the person this song is for?"_

"_Well, I screwed up on something important to me, and I guess this song was just the eulogy for it."_

"_Eulogy?" Kate Hayes, or whatever her name was shocked. _

"_Yeah, I suppose it's over now, and the song was just so I could get over it easier."_

My brain urged my finger to turn the television off. I didn't need to see this.

"_So, who is this lucky guy?"_

"_Does it matter? It's completely over now. I've kind of moved on."_

My stomach left like lead.

I knew that she would move on. I guess I should too.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

(BPOV)

"So, who is this guy?"

"Tanya, I don't know."

"You wrote a song for him!"

"Okay, I lied. His name is Ken Adams."

Tanya smirked with satisfaction but then her face scrunched up in confusion and then she burst out laughing.

"That's so funny! There's this guy on this TV show called Ken Adams," she told me.

"Which TV show?"

"I don't know, it's like one with six people and the backpacking through Europe story, wait, it's F full stop R full stop I full stop E full stop N full stop D full stop S full stop, wow, that's a long name for a TV show."

Was there a noose here so I could hang myself?

"Yeah, Ken cracks me up," I giggled.

I _do _have a complex. I was lying through my gritted teeth. Tanya opened her mouth again and somewhere someone was throwing luck at me, as my phone buzzed.

_I saw your performance today. The feeling's mutual._

Tanya snatched my phone from my hand.

"Ooh, is this him? Edward Cullen?" she asked looking at my screen before handing my phone back to me.

"No, he's no one special."

* * *

_Okay, so I did something that I've never done before, because it's something I don't like as a reader, but then again, it was kind of needed. This was changing perspectives. _

_Chapter title in reference to 'Last name' which was sung in Glee. I think the original was by Carrie Underwood. Nevertheless, it's a great song._

_I know I said that I wouldn't update until June, but since 40-odd of you complained and moaned that you couldn't possibly wait until June, I sat down one night and wrote most of this. Also, the nomination for "Drama that got you hooked" on the Twilight All-human awards spurred me on a lot. Voting doesn't start until the 1__st__ June, of which I'll post the next chapter with the details and such. _

_And I guess the answer to the question posed in the last chapter was 'C'. Forget everything. Or try to. _

_FRIENDS, aha. My sister calls it that to annoy me sometimes. I love it too much, to be honest. _

_Exam-wise, ICT theory, Religious Education and Biology down. I'm supposed to be studying for English Literature and Chemistry, of which, I want to carry on studying, so if I fail... I'll probably spend all my time writing (;_

_See you on the 1__st__ June. Hopefully._

_As always, _

_Love, bexx._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer and the WB.

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_

**Chapter 18 – You're the kinda girl I'd take home to mom, if my momma was dead.

* * *

**

**(BPOV)**

**February**

Time passes, you know. Love or no love, it just passes, in fact, being single makes it easier. I mean, there's no commitment, no hurt or anger, no problems whatsoever. I don't see why people fall in love anyway, it's a complete waste of time. Valentine's Day is a joke, a scam even, from the card-producing, flower-selling companies that want to promote love. What's even the point? Divorce rates are increasing anyway. Look at Renee and Charlie. They didn't work out so well did they? True love is dead.

My tutors are fantastic. I have a set of three now, so I can learn more things and not get bored at the same time. In a way it's like high school with only a few less teachers. That way, I don't end up firing them and they don't end up quitting. It's refreshing and it works for me and without love, it makes learning all that easier.

Aro, Caius and Marcus. They are saviours and they are truly diverse. Aro teaches me English and Government. He is laid back, most of the time and the most lenient when I hand in essays after a preset deadline. Caius is the most outgoing and humorous and he is my Biology teacher as well as a personal trainer. He made sports fun again, and taught me some awesome volleyball moves the Coach in Forks High could only fantasise his students doing in his sleep rather than teaching them the skills they need. Marcus is the one that needed to loosen up. Aro and Caius thought so too. He was strict and reminded me that I was still a student. Even Renee is a little scared of him, no, even my _bodyguard _is scared of him, and my bodyguard trained in the harshest of conditions and had been bitten by a snake, yet Marcus could reduce him to a dithering wreck. Marcus is a triple threat. He is a Maths teacher by profession but was fluent in French and Spanish. He is working on his Italian a little, and he planned to live there in the future with his wife. Yup, as much as Marcus was a Draconian teacher, he also has his dreams.

Aro has really inspired to something new with my life, along with his colleagues, Caius and Marcus. Renee was right, getting in touch with the real world really works because now I can broaden my horizons. I used to think that singing and performing was the only way of life, but Marcus in particular has made it clear that I can do so much more: writing and inspiring others before settling down and living in a peaceful place. My tutors are the only reason that I'm inspired to go to college and carry on studying, so I can get somewhere in life. I want to carry on English Literature and understand the motives of a book and the reasons for the writers penning the book in the first place. I suppose, because of them, I'm becoming normal. I'm getting in touch with what life really throws at you.

Time passes and it's great. I've learned to channel love for guys to a passion for English Literature. I don't need a guy in order to survive. I've proven that.

**March**

"I have something to tell you."

My hands grasped the handset tightly. I hadn't spoken to Jacob since he had hung up on me in January. I had been meaning to call him, but what with the studying and the teaching and so on, things had gotten out of hand and I found I didn't have the time. Renee was pushing another album project on me, and I was finding it difficult to juggle the two around in order to satisfy myself, her and my fans as well as Aro, Caius and Marcus. So when I saw Jacob's name flash on my screen for a change, I was pleasantly surprised. Then he told me he needed to tell me something. Then I thought, maybe not connecting with Jacob was a good idea. I didn't like where the conversation was headed already, and I hadn't even had an input.

"Jacob, how are you?" I asked, keeping my tone light and friendly. The last thing I needed was another feud with the best friend I had drifted from.

"Bells, I'm not joking here, I'm in serious trouble." His voice was ragged and I could hear crying and shouting in the background.

"What's up?"

"It's Leah."

Oh, God. There wasn't anything wrong with Leah was there? In the last few months that I had been Forks, Jake and Leah looked more upset than happy together. It seemed like it was almost a pain for them to be in the same room and rather than being a good friend that I was supposed to be and try and help them work through it I just focused on my personal interests, which seemed to turn into personal regrets.

"I'm sorry, honey, do you want me to fly over there, is there anything that you need me to do?" They had probably broken up and that could have been my fault. If only I had taken the time to actually heal what was broken, then Jacob didn't have to be in so much pain in the moment.

…Then again, he _didn't _sound in pain, in fact, he seemed more troubled than pained. Then again, he could have been the one that broke up with Leah. That made sense, except the pregnant silence between his words seemed to suggest something otherwise.

"Jacob, what did you do?"

I heard a strained laugh on the other end of the line and there was a large commotion. I winced at the loud volume.

"_Jacob Black, you better get out here now! Either way, I'm gonna kick your ass" _

That response paired with the relentless sobbing in the background. Oh, sweet Lord.

"Or rather, _who_ did you do?"

There was a splutter.

"Okay, it's natural, Leah and I have been together for a long time, it's natural. Heck, didn't you do it with Cullen? How long did you know him?" His response was snappy. He had probably said that to a lot of people, and by now he was getting to the end of his tether.

"I get the point, so why is there someone yelling, someone crying and someone on the phone to their best friend in the middle of it?" I asked.

"Well…uh…there was one hiccup, and I swear to God I didn't want anyone to find out this early," he assured me.

"Spit it out!"

"Okay, I may have gotten Leah pregnant."

I choked on my own saliva.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU _MAY HAVE_?"

I could imagine him curling into a ball, wincing at my reaction before collecting himself. Oh, no way.

"DO YOU NOT KNOW THERE IS SUCH THING AS PROTECTION? DO YOU USE IT? DOES SHE USE IT?"

"Yes, I do, she takes the pill. She forgot, she didn't tell me and you know. I'm a guy. I don't like using the rubber thing." Was he attempting to make me fly over there and murder him myself? Or was he just planning his suicide?

"DON'T PULL 'THE THING WAS UNCOMFORTABLE' THING ON ME, YOU KNOW THAT PEOPLE FORGET TO TAKE THE PILL AND WHATEVER, THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TOO."

There was silence and I think my point drove home. Then again, I didn't have to be an anal mother figure at the moment. There was a reason why he had called me – to get away from what I had just said and ask for some real, raw advice and here I was, repeating everything that he didn't want me to tell him. I had to support him, even though he was a dumb wanker.

"Look, I'm sorry, Jacob. You know that I don't really approve of underage pregnancy, I mean, look at my parents, they completely did not work out and look how messed up I turned out."

"Bells, you aren't messed up," Jacob sighed, his tone of voice was strained, still bothered by the chaos that was around him, "I was... mad the last time I spoke to you, okay?"

"No, I completely agree with you, I _do _have a complex, but I'm working through it. Jake, I'm gonna show you I don't need people to like me to survive."

There was a long pause that normally would have been filled in with us chatting and laughing.

_Jake, we used to be able to talk for hours on end, what changed? Was it my fault again?_

Then, I had to make it right again. No matter what, I couldn't love Jake as a best friend. I could lose Alice, and the popular people in Forks, but definitely not Jacob. I had to make the first step to make things right.

"So...how far along is she?"

**(EPOV)**

**April**

"Edward? Can I see you after class?"

Urgh. Did he have to do that? I mean, sure I was slacking in his class now and again, but he didn't have to give me another tirade about how 'your-behaviour-is-unsatisfactory-for-this-time-of-year'. Did this man really think he was an educator or a prison guard? Jeez, he was more insufferable than Alice and Carlisle at times, and this was when it was their attitudes combined. I had already written an extra-credit essay on Shakespeare for him, what else did he want? A fucking back massage? Please, as much as it fascinated me sometimes, I didn't go for teachers or the male gender. I glared at him but he turned away from them. God, I wished that he had eyes at the back of his head so he could see what the heck I was doing. The rest of the lesson was spent like this, ignoring the obvious passes that Jessica Stanley was making at me.

She probably didn't know I was not in the game anymore. Sure, I did sleep with people a lot more often but since coming back to school, this had been more of a weekend ritual. School was exhausting, as was keeping up appearances, which meant that I usually was in bed by eleven or twelve, not a good time for the sexcapades that I preferred. Today was also Tuesday. Tuesday was monopoly night in the Cullen household and through moral obligation I had to join in. Alice seemed to always cheat anyway so I didn't see the point. However, everyone else in my family did. Carlisle had consulted a psychologist and the woman had suggested family games like monopoly so we could bond as a family. Carlisle wanted me to be more in the family, I suppose and he thought that I wanted to be part of it after the events in December. He couldn't have been more wrong. I sunk. I admit, this Peyton thing had hit me hard, but through immoral sexcapades I got through it myself. I went back to normal where I didn't like or dislike Carlisle. Despite this, Carlisle wanted me to join in and become a member of the family properly. Part of me wanted to become a part of the family, the other, well, let's just say there was a womanizing reputation that I had to keep up.

Except, it was a reputation that I wasn't willing to fulfil when Carlisle made me pee in a cup or something like that to see if I had contracted an STD. That wasn't funny at all. Especially when he made me do in the room with Emmett there and watching me with fascination. That was almost enough to put a person off sex – Emmett staring at you whilst your doctor father made you publically pee in a cup to see if you had gonorrhoea or something nasty like that. Trust me, it's not the STD that puts you off. It's Emmett. So I guess it was family games.

English went on for far too long. Really. I heard Mr. Greer talk about Shakespeare for far too long. He turned around and saw me glaring at him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, Mr. Cullen knows this, don't you?" he diverted the class's attention from himself to me.

"Am I supposed to?" I asked him, putting him on the spot. Sure I knew it, but I wasn't going to divulge that in front of the whole class. He sighed and then rolled his eyes at me before turning around and allowing the bell to ring that signalled the end of class. About a dozen chairs were scraped back over the voice of our teacher assigning another essay to give in the next week. Urgh. We actually had exams coming up, what was the point in giving us homework when we needed to study?

I watched as the other students filed out of the room. When everyone else was out of the room, I leaned forward and rested my head on my raised arm. Mr. Greer took his time rummaging through the papers on his desk.

"Sir, the warning bell is about to go, do you think we could do this another time?" I asked him. He looked up at me with a half-hearted smile on his face.

"Do you think that you would come back if you had the choice?" he asked.

"Nope," I replied somewhat truthfully and he chuckled. He pulled out a pile of paper from under the piles of papers on his desk before sifting through it and finding what he needed.

"Your paper," he lifted it up enough so I could see it. I grabbed my messenger bag and threw the strap onto my shoulder. I walked towards the teacher and reached for the paper.

_A-plus. _

Whoa.

"Surprised?"

"Somewhat," I answered, looking up at the teacher in confusion.

"Your essay was excellent, it definitely separated the ones with talent in this area with those who don't," he told me, "Edward, I think you have some talent when it comes to analysing texts like this."

"Uh...thanks."

People were starting to enter the classroom now.

"What have you decided to do in college?" he asked, unabashed that people were filling up his class.

"I don't know yet."

"Try English Literature, you might find something you enjoy doing."

I would have said something, but the warning bell went off.

...and I had to run to the sixth building which was across the courtyard to some indescribable place.

Damn you, Mr. Greer.

**May**

Finals are the most stressful things ever. The Prom frenzy had also started. I was sure it was guy's choice but, as usual, people don't understand this. It doesn't really count if you ask someone to ask you to prom. That isn't how it works.

Forks was a stressful place to be. I couldn't be at home, or I would hear Alice, Rosalie and Esme squeal about dress colours, silk or netting, a-lines or meringues, corsages and accessories. If I was in Forks outside of my house I would have to put up with Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory shoving their breasts in my face and tempting me to prom. What was so hard about 'I'm not going'? Even Alice could understand this and she was more prom-mad that the rest of them. I had to broaden my horizons, as much as I adored the female mammary glands, I really couldn't stand the 'p' word anymore. I had to leave, one for my sanity, secondly, for the spines of those girls. It couldn't be healthy for them to keep them _that_ curved to optimise breast size.

This lead to me Leo's, a small bar in Port Angeles. Leo was a charming man with a thick Irish accent. One look gave him enough information to tell him that I was a customer who wasn't happy and was also a minor. He didn't seem to care that I was not allowed in his bar and handed me a large Coke 'on the house'. This, I was grateful for, and tipped him heartily – enough for ten Cokes. He was obviously good at his job, he could see that I was a customer worth pleasing and that I needed to down my sorrows by nursing a drink – just a drink that I was legal to drink. I watched him take the tip and stuff it in his oversized pocket that looked as if it was full of bills. Yup, he was definitely good at this job. I smirked. Then, like other patrons, I took large gulps and stared at the wall behind the bartenders.

"Rough day?"

I peeked at the speaker from under my eyelashes. She was strawberry blonde and very, no, extremely pretty and she had a Coke in her hand. She slid on the leather seat next to me with ease and I could tell from the way she was sitting, that she had really long legs. I didn't look to prove that my intuition was correct. My gaze flickered back to the wall behind the bartenders.

"You have no idea."

"Well, nothing can top someone telling me that I'm a 'washed-up model' who 'parasites on others to get ahead' and that I'm 'completely useless'." She sighed, I looked at her hands and she was tracing the rim of her glass with her pinkie.

"How about girls throwing their breasts in your face, trying to get you ask them to prom?" I said to her and smiled crookedly at her. I was a thankful that she kept her composure instead of thrusting her chest in my direction.

"I think my day was worse," she said, her eyebrows knitting together.

"It was worth a shot," I told her, I put a hand in front of her coaxing her to shake it, "I'm Edward Cullen, you are?"

"Tanya DeMarchols," she said with a grin, before letting her mouth fall open. My mouth fell open too. We exclaimed at the same time.

"You're that model!"

"You're Peyton's boyfriend!"

I looked at her, "How do you know that?"

"How do you know that I'm a model? Aside from the fact that I'm really pretty and that I'm on the cover of nearly every magazine?" she asked, just as surprised as I was. Okay, she was a little slow, but I guess I had to work with her.

"Because you're on the cover of nearly every magazine," I assured her and she smiled meekly before launching into her explanation,

"Well, like three months ago, Peyton was singing a song on Kate Hayes and she didn't reveal who it was about and then she got this text and I stole the phone from her and saw that it was from an Edward Cullen, which was funny, because she said the guy was called Ken Adams, which was from a TV show which has a really long name but then I watched that episode again and saw it was a _fake _name, so there was an Edward Cullen out there who dated Peyton, so I had my assistant dig out any tabloid pictures of Peyton and there was loads of her in this small town, and there was this bronze-haired guy in nearly every picture, so I guess there was an Edward Cullen somewhere with bronze-hair and he was running around in Port Angeles so I wanted to find him, you know to talk, and then oh my God, there you are."

Whoa. She said all of that and only took three gulps of air. Or two. I lost count. She spoke really fast.

"Um, couldn't you tell it was me from the pictures?"

"It's kinda dark in here," she answered truthfully. Fair enough, it was quite dark. I took a deep draught from my drink and then looked at her. She was staring at me with a lot of interest. Paranoia set in and I glugged the rest of my drink to pass the time, but even then, the way she was looking at me was starting to unsettle me.

"I find it unfair," she suddenly said when I had gulped down the last of my Coke. I wiped the back of my mouth with my hand.

"How so?" I questioned with a smile.

"You went out with Peyton Steele, Grammy-winning, platinum-selling, world-touring superstar, nearly all of her concerts are sell-outs," she emphasised her credentials. So what if she was amazing? Sometimes the inside it what that counts and it was pretty damn obvious that she had no heart on the inside, despite showing that she had one on the outside.

"And...?" I was missing the point.

"It is a big deal," she continued to emphasise, "Come on, she went out with James Port and he had it in the headlines for months, their on-off relationship was kept in the press and everyone wanted to know what was going on between them – imagine this, you're her forbidden love."

I snorted before passing it off as a choking noise.

"Excuse me? Forbidden love?"

"You're the guy that she doesn't want anyone to know about! You're the guy she messed around with and is forcing to keep quiet and at the same time, what you both have is forbidden! It's almost taboo for someone as famous as she to date...you."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey... I'm not her boyfriend, anymore, we broke up ages ago, we don't talk to each other anymore as well."

"That's even better!"

"Wha-What?"

"Edward, I'm going to make you famous."

**BPOV**

"Well done, Peyton, I knew you'd do it," Aro patted me on the back. I grinned at him. I was holding the document that showed that I had passed high school, my GED in my hands. I had done it. I got through high school...or high school with a lot of homeschooling.

"It's all thanks to you guys. You are just amazing, thank you so much," I hugged each of my teachers as hard as I could. My phone vibrated in my pocket, I pulled it out and grinned at the name that was flashing on the screen.

"Guess who graduated?"

"Erm...no idea, it can't be you, you're too much of a dumbass," he said.

"Jake, you know that if you said that to my face, I would have totally punched you, right?" I warned with a smile.

"Which is why I said it over the phone – congrats Bells," he said in a way that I could almost tell he was grinning as much as I was.

"_You go girl!"_ I heard Leah call in the background. I chuckled and told Jake to pass a 'thanks' to her. Since March, Jacob and I had reconnected, _a lot_. I bought a cottage near Forks and the Reservation where I was letting Jacob and Leah stay, free of charge, since Leah's mom had kicked her out of the house when she refused to have an abortion and Billy Black didn't have much room for the couple in his house, let alone a child about to enter the world. Yes, I realise I may have made an enemy of myself in the eyes of the Clearwaters but they were being unreasonable. It was hard enough being pregnant, let alone having to be pregnant and barely starting your own life.

"How is Leah, I never asked the last time I talked to you," I asked, walking away from my tutors shading myself underneath the nearest tree.

"You did, actually. But she's good, a little narky sometimes when I don't get her ice cream in one-oh-point four minutes, but I think that's normal," Jacob sighed. I heard something clatter on the other end and winced as there was a loud banging noise. Judging from previous experiences, I think Leah threw a pillow at him.

"You deserved that," I said when I was sure that he was listening on the other end.

"I was telling the truth!" Jacob spluttered.

"Well, she wouldn't be like that if you didn't knock her up, now would she?" I snapped at him sarcastically.

"Okay, that card has been played too many times, you know..." Jacob's rant went on but I wasn't bothered, I looked away, adding 'mmms' and 'yeah, I know' at appropriate intervals when he paused for breath.

"Oh, God!" I heard a screaming in the distance. I turned in the direction and saw my mother squinting at the screen of her Blackberry. I bet it crashed. I told her. The iPhone was far superior. Well, in my opinion. She looked at me with the eyes of a frightened rabbit and I saw something was wrong. Deadly wrong.

"Jake, shut up for a second."

"Why?" he asked, his voice a little hurt.

"I gotta go, there's something wrong with Renee," I told him.

"Okay, talk to you later."

I pressed the 'End call' button and stormed over to my mother.

"What is it mom?" I asked lightly, "are you okay?"

"It's not me - it's you," she held up her Blackberry towards me, and I saw the headline on the tabloid website.

_**Peyton's secret love revealed – the good, the bad and the dirt, exclusive interview with Edward Cullen...to be posted tomorrow!**_

I felt bile make its way up my throat.

"No, not today," I said shakily, falling into the chair beside my mother.

"I'm sorry honey, I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not going to happen, I'm going to call Jane and Alec Dickinson, they're the best lawyers out there. They'll sort this out." I told her with a ferocity in my voice that she looked at me in fear.

"No, it'll get laughed out in court, he could easily argue that his right to free speech is being taken away from him and the website could say that they have a right to free press," Renee put her hand on mine, "Maybe it's for the best."

I growled, "I thought he was more mature than this."

"Honey, we all hoped it."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Peyton! How do you feel that Edward Cullen has spoken out about you?"

"No comment."

This was it. I was facing the sea of reporters that wanted my side of the story. The interview had been published on the website for a week before being copied to other websites and into tabloid newspapers and magazines. It had like 3 million hits and at least 5 hundred thousand Edward sympathisers.

The article hadn't revealed my real identity, Thank God. I had spent the last few days treading on thin ice in a brown wig, ready to be revealed, but no one recognised Bella. However, the article had painted me to be the bad person who wanted fame. This was played out like a stupid medieval love fable. I had lured and seduced the virgin and taken his virtue, and ran away and broke his heart. He described the few dates we shared and how much we were 'in love'. God, now I knew what the wanker was really like. Fame-hunting. But why was he coming clean now? He had December, January, February, March and April to tell tales. Why now?

"Peyton – how long do you think you could have kept this a secret?"

"No comment."

"Peyton, is it true that you have met Edward's family?"

"No comment."

"How do you feel that Edward Cullen is now dating your best friend, Tanya DeMarchols and is planning to take her to his high-school prom?"

"No – what? Edward Cullen is dating Tanya DeMarchols? What a load of trash," I deviated from my 'no comment' script my mother forced me to say every time a reporter asked me a question. I turned around to the reporter and raised an eyebrow.

"No, it's true. Edward Cullen has been seen around Port Angeles with Tanya DeMarchols for the past week." The grubby reporter quipped, "what do you have to say to that? Your ex-boyfriend and best friend?"

"Former best friend, that is, and so what? We're not dating anymore," I told his tape recorder.

"And what about taking her to his high school prom, what with the things that happen on prom night?"

"That is purely myth, to begin with, not every couple does the nasty on prom night, and good for him and good for her, she never finished high school so this would be her first prom," I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

"Look, you can ask me anything about Edward Cullen, but the most you'll get out of me is a 'no comment', if you drag Tanya DeMarchols into this, you'll get a 'good for her'. Nothing is going to change that – so I think you should just move on, I've moved on from Edward Cullen, believe me."

I turned my back on the reporters and walked into my apartment block. The coolness of the air-conditioning hit me like a bus and I sighed in content and a little bit of sadness. The lump that was my heart had frozen.

_Is it true? Is she the one for you now? Do you know she is using you to get to me? Do you care?_

Even if he was being used, it wouldn't be the first time.

Wait. Was this why he was telling them now? Had Tanya set him up to it? Jeez, she wasn't as dumb as I made her out to be. She had remembered the name Edward Cullen and then gotten her assistant to do all the digging. Even though she hadn't done the legwork she still remembered the name that flashed onto my phone that day she took my phone.

Either way, I was determined to do one thing. Without even glancing down at my iPhone I tapped my passcode and heard the click. I pressed the 'Phone' button before dialling a number that was burned in the back of my brain.

"Hello, is this the headmaster?"

I was told the headmaster was going to be put on in a minute. I heard the music to notify I was put on hold before a raspy voice answered in a snappy tone.

"Hello sir, it's Peyton Steele. Do you need a performer for your prom this year?"

* * *

_Okay, just a hyper-extended time jump and pulling in Edward's point of view as well. You know, I really didn't like the idea of doing that to begin with, but I really like it now. However, this is still Bella's story. I just want a little insight to the other side. And yes, things are beginning to kick-off, again.  
_

_Song reference: Damn you look good and I'm drunk by Cobra Starship. Totally addictive band, really. _

_Okay, today is 1__st__ June, where I am so the Twilight All-Human Fanfiction Awards have started voting. The link is: http:/twilightallhumanawards(dot)webs(dot)com/voting(dot)htm, replace the (dot) with actual dots, ofc – and this story is under 'drama that had you hooked' as well. So, um, yeah – thanks if you nominated this story in the awards itself. _

_Okay, I got some questions in the reviews section:_

_**1. Why Peyton? **__Um. Well, if you know me, I'm a CSI: New York fanatic and there was a character called Peyton in Season 3, and the name stuck with me and I love it. _

_**2. If Alice can see visions, why can't Edward read minds? **__Well, this is an all-human story to begin with, and there is such thing as human premonitions, as for mind-reading, I believe more in people can tell what someone in feeling by the expression they wear on their face. I don't believe someone can actually read the thoughts of those around them, and yes, before you ask, I have tried screaming in my head to see if I could attract the attention of a potential mind reader. It failed, needless to say. _

_**3.** As a continuation of the previous question: __**Why can't Edward read Bella's/Peyton's mind? **__Edward can't read/hear Bella's mind in the first place. I'm not gonna change that now, and the answer above helps answer this._

_**4. If the Cullens are vampires, can't Edward tell that Peyton and Bella have the same scent? **__No. This is an all-human story. No vampires. No werewolves. No bogeymen. Nothing but the good ol' human race. Humans can't detect if something has the same scent, they can, but that would require a thorough sniffing and that is just plain... strange. _

_Okay, those are all the questions I've had so far that were unanswered and now answered, and I do like answering questions, in any other case, leave a review. _

_I'm on a half-term break now, so I may update during this week, but if I don't see you all on 21st June when I officially finish all my exams and school and have time to update like hell. Oh. Yes._

_Lots of love,_

_bexx. _


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. _

'_Ever Yours' is another one of my songs that I wrote. I have to say, I don't like it very much, but it gets the point across. Nevertheless (c) Carrie Swinton.

* * *

_

**I hope you're ready for the time of your lives.

* * *

**

"You're mad," was the first greeting I had as soon as I stepped off my private helicopter. I removed my sunglasses dramatically whilst the wind was blowing in my hair and smiled at the person.

"I've always been mad, have you only just noticed that now?"

Jacob Black nodded and gave me the widest grin I had ever seen in my entire life. He chuckled and I slapped him on the back lightly, "It's good to be back, Jake."

He looked at me, his big brown eyes focusing on me, "It's good to have you back, Bells."

I appreciated the nickname. I wanted to be Bella again, I was past the crazy-psycho-one-life phase and was back to working with two personalities and letting them work together. It was almost foreign to hear the nickname and respond to it but at the same time, but it was who I am. I wasn't going to change it.

I was back in Forks, having landed in some remote meadow somewhere. Yes, I was back and I was going to kick some ass. First of all, Tanya's, even though she didn't have much on her ass, but there was still a posterior that I could kick. Hard. I was headed to Jake's having not asked Charlie if I could stay at his, and I doubted he wanted to see me very much after running away five months ago. Jake was insisting I take the spare room in the cottage they were lodging in, as I was technically the owner – a gesture that he didn't have to do, but he did voluntarily, for which I was grateful for. I just hoped Charlie would understand.

"By the way, don't say anything to Leah about the size she is, she's a little sensitive at the moment," Jake warned as I lifted my trunks for him to put into the back of the red truck. New responsibilities had not taken its toll on Jacob, yet anyway. He looked happy for the time-being and there was something about the aura around him that made me insanely jealous despite the fact that this was happening to him too soon.

Regardless of my best efforts to urge him to get a better car because of the baby, he loved the truck too much. I had a strange feeling that he was going to put the baby in the back of the truck, on the outside. I had to buy him a better car, definitely. Either that, offer to buy the truck from him so I had something to drive whenever I was in Forks. That way he could be assured it wasn't going to some kind of scrap yard. Jacob hadn't climbed off the back of my truck when I got a phone call. The first phone call since I first landed on Forks soil.

"You're back in Forks and you don't even consider telling me?" a high-pitched voice berated me on the other line as soon as I pressed the phone to my ear. I knew that this was going to be coming. It was inevitable.

"And hello to you too," I said, grunting slightly as I climbed into the truck itself. If only the photographers could see this: The Not-So-Glamorous Life of Peyton Steele.

"No, Bella. This isn't funny, I mean, I thought we were friends at least. I've emailed you a hundred times. Did you even open them or consider the option of opening them?" the rant went on.

"Yes, I did," I juggled my phone around as I pulled the seatbelt over me. Jake looked at me oddly and using only his eyebrows, asked me who was on the phone. I mouthed 'Alice' before he was content enough to start driving. I forgot how loud and recognisable the truck could be.

"Oh, but you talked to Jacob Black?" she demanded, "Isabella, I-I-I thought that we were f-f-friends!"

"Alice, we are friends, what on earth are you thinking?" I said into the phone. I was confused now.

"I thought that you had completely cut off from people in Forks, even Detective Swan said he hadn't heard from you, but Jacob Black? You really chose him over me?" Alice interrogated.

"I didn't choose Jacob over anyone, Jacob is my best friend, he needed some help and I was giving him some," I told her, "I opened all of your emails but I never had a chance to reply because I was a little busy getting my GED to go to college next year and I probably would have replied last week, if your psychotic brother hadn't released some interview making my life hell and stressful for the past week."

The other end was silent for a while before an 'I'm sorry' was whispered.

"It's fine, but Alice...?"

"Yeah?"

"You're a crap psychic."

There was a chuckle on the line and something that sounded like a bark from Jacob.

"Not really," Alice reassured, "I know who the secret performer that is performing at prom this year, and I swear that no one knows because the principal isn't telling."

"Spill..."

"Look, you know what I want, so do I even have to ask?"

"If it doesn't have Edward Cullen in the question, then you probably would need to."

"Dang it," she said before gasping, "You're trying to win Edward's heart back again?"

"Trying being the operative word," I admitted. It was going to be the toughest mission of my life, but I had to do it. Even Jacob saw that it was important to me, that having Edward back would make me happy. He still thought I was crazy as a bat, but he knew that I wanted Edward more than anything. Alice wasn't saying much, so I guess I had to say it for her.

"...and yes, you can be my stylist."

There was a scream on the other end and I knew that it was one of the reasons why she rang me. I also knew one of the others

"...and tell Rosalie, she can choreograph."

It was if I was psychic, as I heard Alice whisper what I had told her to pass on and there was another scream. I made plans to meet up with them in the Forks gymnasium the next day to start prepping for the event which was going to happen in a few days.

I couldn't wait. I had a perfect song picked out.

I played it to Jacob in the new radio in the truck and even he thought it was a heart-winner. I supposed it was just a matter of opinion, but he thought that it was fantastic. Conversation between Jacob and I always flowed easy and today wasn't any different. Phone calls had been slightly awkward since I had to go and do something every five minutes and Leah always seemed to want something done in the cottage but today, there was none of that.

I learnt that Leah's baby was currently unidentified as Jacob wanted it to be a surprise and Leah wasn't bothered. The thing they did care about was the name and decided that if it was a girl, Leah would choose the first name and Jacob would choose the middle name and vice versa if the child was a boy. So, in a month, there was going to be an 'Aylen Sarah Black' or an 'Aidan Jacob Black' in that cottage and he/she was going to be a nightmare for them.

The light conversation made the journey shorter and I anticipated seeing Leah. Was she going to be one of those cranky women who sat on the chair all day and demanded things or was she going to be one of those girls who didn't know what she was doing and fretted all day?

When I followed Jacob through the door of the cottage, I saw Leah sprawled on the sofa in front of the television. As much as I wished that I could say that she had that radiant pregnant look, she looked, _in pain_.

"Bella!" She tried to sit up but I quickly sat on the cushion beside her to save her the trouble.

"Leah, you look...fantastic."

I had to be nice. Or stretch the truth.

"I _do not_, my hair is sticking to my face, my ankles have swollen up and I look like a whale," she said with a grin, "Good job I only have to do this once, right?"

I nodded and smiled, not daring to say anything in case I brought her to tears.

Thank God, Jacob ushered me out quick enough so I wouldn't regret anything.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I wish I could say that the paparazzi had followed me back, but they didn't. I knew what an uproar it would cause, not only to the excited people in Forks, but to Edward and Tanya. Using another one of Fitz's wigs, I posed as a red-head with electric-blue highlights and red contacts and matching glasses. When I wasn't rehearsing I was stalking Edward and Tanya, who despite looking extremely awkward, looking a little too pleased that they had found each other.

What was with Tanya anyway? First James Port and now Edward Cullen? Before that she said her forever was going to be Laurent Henri,, one of my first boyfriends, and that relationship had been a publicity stunt so we could promote our new single. Was Tanya really after my exes? To what avail? The publicity of it all? What was she going to gain out of it except for embarrassment when I took Edward back? Jeez, talk about sloppy seconds.

I didn't have time to care. Rosalie and Alice were like a pack of dogs anyway. Whenever they caught me sneaking around, under the guise of 'Francis', they would throw me into their multi-million sports cars and drive me back to rehearsals and fittings. Even then, it was no fun. As Rosalie also had a creative input on my performance it meant that she also could veto outfits that made it difficult to dance. This irritated Alice as she had pre-ordered glamorous dresses that would accentuate my legs but made dancing difficult. This meant Alice could veto some dances so they fitted the outfit. That meant the pair were constantly bickering to no end.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jacob asked me whilst watching at Rosalie and Alice started at each other again, for the third time in the hour. Alice had a silver and gold sequinned dress that looked as if it could be used for weight-lifting. Rosalie was emphasising my point.

"Of course," I said with my jaw clenched. I was adamant that I had to do this and they were majorly slowing things down. I jumped down the bleachers to where they were arguing and looked close to ripping the others throat out. I knew that hiring friends would be difficult if I had to fire them, but these two had to learn a lesson. I thought they could get along at least. I obviously had thought wrong.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to fire you both," I said dramatically and I put a tentative hand on the shoulder of each.

"WHAT?" They both turned to me at the same time and they both had the same horrified expression on their face. I tried to look disappointed and guessing from their faces, I was spot on.

"I can't have you two fighting, the performance is tomorrow and I haven't got any outfits set up and I haven't got a single dance routine done _and learnt_. The only thing that is sorted is what songs I'm doing, so unless you two can work it out, you can both go home."

My little speech drove the point home and they both paused, looked at me with their mouth open like a goldfish. Rosalie stuck out a stiff hand and Alice shook it equally as stiff. I rolled my eyes.

"Alice, can you show me what you want me to wear, please?" I sighed and I saw a smile spread across Alice's face as she pulled me towards the racks of clothes she had purchased with the heavy dress still clutched in her hands. She had prepared and probably bought about three racks of clothes.

On my card.

Whoa. How much was I going to have to pay?

"Not much, most of this was a gift from designers as they want you to promote their clothing," Alice replied. Again, I was speaking my thoughts. I flicked past items of clothing before stopping at a lycra one-piece. I pulled it out and raised an eyebrow at Alice.

"That is cute, I mean, it totally shows off your amazing body," Alice tried to justify.

"It doesn't cover much of my body," I hissed before putting it back, much to Alice's dismay. I dismissed several dresses until I reached a pink dress. I fingered it for a moment before pulling it out.

"Do you have any shoes for this?" I asked Alice and she nodded, pointing at a row of shoes which were neatly lined up. It shouldn't have surprised me how many shoes she had prepared for me, but I was. The cost of the shoes was probably the amount Charlie would need to survive the next five years if he ever lost his job. I hopped around the rows and grabbed a pair before glancing at the accessories. I'd sort that part out later. I was just curious what this dress and the shoes would look like on me.

"Is this one all right?" I asked Alice and Rosalie when I stepped out of the changing room. It was a short strappy pink dress that sucked in my waist. It ended mid-thigh, or possibly higher which made my legs look endless. I decided to go for a pair of suede ankle boots that had a high heel. It was the 'long-legs' tactic that Alice always employed when it involved Edward.

"Fantastic," Alice said clapping and dancing around me. Rosalie looked at me and tapped her index finger on her chin. I was worried about Rosalie's critique as she was usually a perfectionist.

"Who am I kidding?" she laughed, "That dress was made for you."

I grinned and with Alice's command, I twirled in front of her and grinned.

_Outfit number one was finally sorted. At last. _

x-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey, news is that Peyton Steele is doing the Forks Prom," Tanya crooned into her phone.

I really had no time for her at the moment. Fitz was doing my hair, I had make-up artists waiting for me and Rosalie wanted me to make sure I had gotten my fairly simple dance moves downpat. Every time she asked me if I was alright I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I picked up dances like quarters, her routine wasn't particularly hard so it wasn't something I had to worry about. Especially the outfit that I was going to wear with it – tucked-in shirt with harem pants and high heels. All I had to worry about what Tanya was calling me for and how Edward was going to react when he knew I was in town.

"Uh-huh, what's it to you?"

"I'm going to it with my new boyfriend, Edward Cullen," she told me. I bet she was relishing in telling me this. I bet she was imagining me squirming. Trust me Tanya, if I squirmed, I'd get a curling iron to the neck, so your dream isn't likely.

"Yeah, I wonder why you're suddenly dating him, I mean, he only just confessed into dating me. Don't you think this is too soon for him?" I asked her innocently.

"Well, I was the one who told him to do it. He said he wanted to do it because it made people see who you really are, a controlling bitch."

Really? Was that he said or what she said? Oh, she was totally going to get it now.

"Oh, do you control him now, is that it?" I hissed into the phone.

"No, I'm-I-, no, what?."

"Is he too much of a fucking wuss to tell me this himself?" I snarled, "Do you get like 10% of what he got for exposing me?"

"What? What are you implying?"

"Oh, my God, Tanya, you're the beard."

"I'm not a beard, what?" She was still confused.

"You're Edward's fucking beard," I enunciated each word with care.

"I'm not his beard, I just thought that-," she said but I cut in before she could tell me whatever she thought.

"Have a good life Tanya."

I buttoned her and I'm not going to look back.

"Beard?" Fitz said to me as he continued to curl my hair around an iron.

"It was the best I could come up with," I muttered. Fitz exhaled noisily and looked at me through the mirror.

"She called you a bitch and you called her a beard? Where is Miss Sass gone?" Fitz said hopelessly.

I sighed. _Where had she gone?_

I had no time to contemplate this as I was due on stage in like, 20 minutes. Make-up was going to have to be rushed. Alice wasn't going to be happy but today wasn't a happy day. My hair was pristine anyway. I supposed that was the part that really mattered. I stormed over to the make-up chair where Renee was looking at me with disapproval.

"Don't give me that look, Renee," I warned her.

"First and foremost, I'm your mother and this boy is worth more than you can afford," she started. I knew what was coming. The rant. She had held it in for so long, five months worth of long. She wanted to tell me how much damage he had done to my career when Renee had to pick up the pieces and how much damage he was now after releasing that horrible interview.

"You already look bad in the press's eyes, do you want to further embarrass yourself? This _boy_, is, is, he's not good for you, you're addiction to making him happy or making him yours is unhealthy as is your need for revenge on him," Renee said. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Renee, I'm not planning any revenge on him as it wasn't even his idea. Tanya set this up, she was behind it all. She's the real culprit," I said lowly. Renee looked at me for a second as if she couldn't believe her ears. I nodded my head slowly (to the irritation of the make-up artists frantically trying to finish my first look off) to reiterate my point.

"Edward isn't who you think he is, he's different, he's not the person who said those things in that interview. I _should_ be punished for believing for a second it was his fault."

"_...Presenting again, Peyton Steele."_

I gave my mother a weak smile as she pinched her nose in frustration. I could almost hear her convince herself that things had definitely changed since the days she was young. She thought things were hard _then_, no, things were much more complicated now, mom.

The make-up artists sighed and they moved as I shot out of the chair. They knew my routine too well – as soon as I was called to stage, I would shoot like a bullet out of that chair. I navigated my way around the backstage of the staging area and grabbed the microphone from the principal. I grinned at him and skipped onto the stage to a standing ovation. Harem pants and high heels didn't make this any easier, but Alice had made me practise it beforehand. No, I had made Alice make me practise beforehand, because there was no way I was letting Edward Cullen see me fall flat on my face. People hated me enough already too.

Though, I suppose not many people care in Forks that I broke the heart of the village's sweetheart judging by the round of applause I was getting. Maybe they didn't even know, the town that so remote.

"Hey guys, again," I said into the microphone. There was a scattering of laughs. "I love Forks!"

"_We love you Peyton!_"

"I love you too," I replied politely. I walked across the stage to the centre. I watched as a gymnasium full of eyes followed me.

"So, um, I'm gonna do some stuff from my new album which is actually hitting stores in two weeks, this is one of my favourite songs from the album and um, I hope you like it!"

The backing beats started and the lights dimmed. From the sound of the beats everyone paired into two and started to dance...

x-x-x-x-x-x

After an hour, one intermission to do a costume change and three song requests later, I was ready for the finale. Alice made sure I was in the pink dress that I had picked out earlier this week and she added an Alice band with a black bow on it. Originally I had thought cat ears would have been fun, but I let Alice but her foot down. That was unusual for Alice to do, so I accepted it.

Again, I stormed onto the stage with a huge grin on my face to a raucous applause.

"Okay guys, for my last song, I'm gonna sing you something I'm working on..."

"_Ooooh!_"

"Yup, it's a warning for all of you girls that think you can get away with breaking girl code and taking your friends' man."

I pointed at the music guy who started the racy beat to the song I had written the day I decided to come here.

"_Hey girl don't you know  
Thought you were a friend of mine.  
Guess I was really wrong  
about you this time  
You know what's mine is yours  
Doesn't mean my boy though  
I don't share love._

_I, know what you're thinking.  
I, know what you want._

_The boy is mine  
All this time  
He ain't yours.  
The boy is mine  
I've loved him all this time.  
Can you tell what,  
You've done now  
What is mine,  
Ain't ever yours._

_Oh, oh._

_Been so long, since I found him.  
Didn't know that I could lose him,  
To someone like you.  
Was it planned from the start?  
Breaking my heart?  
There's a rule, girl.  
Never take a boy  
Who is your best friends world_

_I, know what you're thinking.  
I, know what you want._

_The boy is mine  
All this time  
He ain't yours.  
The boy is mine  
I've loved him all this time.  
Can you tell?  
You've done now  
What is mine  
Ain't ever yours._

_Oh.  
You thought you were so slick.  
Comin' up with this trick.  
Did you love it,  
taking all I have?  
All I have...  
Oh, oh._

_You see,_

_I, know what you're thinking.  
I, know what you want._

_The boy is mine  
All this time  
He ain't yours.  
The boy is mine  
I've loved him all this time.  
Can you tell?  
You've done now  
What is mine  
Ain't ever yours._

_Oh what is mine, ain't ever yours._"

To finish a performance like that, I was glad to see Tanya in the centre of the gymnasium giving me the dirtiest look she could muster. I gave her a smug look in return to show her that she wasn't going to win this war. Additionally, Edward wasn't beside her, which was almost a good thing. I wanted her to hear the warning for herself. I wanted her to know I wanted Edward back and there was nothing she could do, publicity stunt or otherwise, to stop me.

_You thought being called 'beard' was bad? You obviously hadn't seen bad yet, bitch. Miss Sass is back. _

I bowed to signal my farewell to the graduating seniors and introduced the next performer – a DJ from Seattle – onto the stage before walking off the stage. I gave a high-five and good luck to the DJ, he was going to need it with the tough crowd. I heard the people call my name for an encore, but there wasn't going to be one, unfortunately. Not tonight. I wanted to lie in the satisfaction I had made another crowd of people happy. The sound of the people calling my name made me feel powerful like I was on top of the world and there was no one that could stop me.

"Hey Peyton, or should I say, Bella?" a voice hissed behind me. I turned around.

Actually, there was just one person that could possibly stop me. Just one.

"Edward!" I lunged at him to embrace the figure my arms had forgotten, but he pushed me away with a stony expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked through gritted teeth. His whole jaw was clenched and his beautiful green eyes were tight with irritation and borderline anger. My heart pounded against my ribcage, bruising itself in the process. It was painful seeing him regard me with such anger. It was painful seeing his face again and the ache of remembering it cut through my chest.

"Performing, what does it look like I'm here for?" I said innocently and as calmly as my heart would let me. I crossed my legs as I stood on them so I would wobble less. Heels weren't very useful to seduce a person if they made your legs into jelly. They also weren't very useful when the person in question was staring determinedly at your face instead of the long legs exposed. Even less when sometimes they looked at the wall behind you because part of their tactic to keep from ever liking you again is to pretend you are a not actually there.

"A pathetic attempt to win my affection," he said rather bluntly. Ouch, that hurt.

"You keep telling yourself that, Edward."

"Jeez, what do you want now?" He sounded annoyed, as if he wanted nothing better than for me to tell him what was up and then go home to California. Then he could probably enjoy life with Tanya. I stared at him, determined to make him listen.

"To talk would be nice."

"About?"

I looked at him through wide eyes. Was he that dense? Did he need me to spell out the incredibly obvious word dangling in front of us? What else did we need to talk about? "Us."

"There's nothing to talk about," he said simply and adamantly. He looked as if he believed it too.

My mouth fell open, "Yes, there is plenty to talk about, we never had a chance to properly talk _that day_."

"If my memory serves correct, I recall we did talk."

"It was different," I insisted, raising an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"We weren't thinking rationally then."

He chuckled under his breath, "I'm rational now and I still stand by what I said."

"That, what? I give up everything I've worked for?" I said, every ounce of powerfulness and independence was floating out of me, "Edward, this is my life, I've worked for it, so hard, for five years, why can't you just let it go and let us start over?"

"In this fantasy world where we start over, do you want me to accept you as you are, or lie to myself and try to like you?"

The comment was uncalled for.

"Edward Cullen, you-you are so beneath my contempt."

"Do I look like I give a damn? Please tell me, because I don't want to give the wrong impression."

We glared at each other for a minute, not backing down – not even for the slightest moment, before I heard _her _coo the name of the person in front of me. We simultaneously turned to face her. Edward's expression lightened, my glare went from tepid to venomous.

"What is going on here, PeyPey?" Tanya's nasal voice cut to the core of my bone. I could barely stand it myself, how could Edward stand listening to her, day and night, night and day?

"Perform a miracle and think," I snarled scathingly. She cackled slightly and reached for my shoulder. I leaned back so her fingers would not touch me in the slightest. Her arm fell limp against her side.

"Don't be jealous now, PeyPey." She was chastising me? My blood boiled under my veins. She was making me _that_ mad by just calling me that awful name.

"Call me PeyPey one more time, and I swear to you I will rip your throat out and give it to a cannibal." My threat was evil and she could go out and tell the reporters in the nearest town what I had said but I could care less. I had more dirt on Tanya than she had on me, so if she wanted to play the fame game I could play all night.

I looked at Edward with the most disgusted expression that I could make before saying in the most insincere tone, "I hope you have a happy life together."

With that, I stormed off. My head was in a jumble about what I should do.

Should I do what Edward says, throw away my hard work and energy to keep a normal side in order to gain his trust and most importantly, his love? Or should I walk away from him, close my heart forever and admit this was one of those moments when you realise things happen for a reason?

I stopped just in front of the mirror that Fitz had looked in before to insult my use of 'beard' and looked at myself.

Could I give away my blonde locks and embrace Bella?

I looked in the reflection, of the couple behind me.

Tanya and Edward, they looked so happy, did I want to break that up, really in the bottom of my heart. He was happy, wasn't he? He looked it. Did I want to be selfish? Isn't that what got my heart broken in the first place?

With that in mind, I walked away.

* * *

_Song credit chapter reference: Camp Rock 2 – It's on. Yes, I am a Disney Channel whore. So sue me. _

_Author notes:_

_Cliffhanger? Up to you to decide whether it is. _

_Reasons for the baby names; Aylen is a Native American name and it means 'happiness', by the way. Sarah was Jake's mom's name. Aidan because it sounds like 'Aylen' and I love that name. Really. and Jacob...do I need to say?  
_

_Over 300 reviews. Whoa, thanks. I love you guys._

_This story was nominated for an award and you can vote here: __http:/twilightallhumanawards(dot)webs(dot)com/voting(dot)htm, replace the (dot) with actual dots and my story is under 'Drama that had you hooked'. _

_I am totally abandoning the idea of quitting writing in order to concentrate for the exams. I have only five more days of school left before I leave and prom. Which, I'm not looking forward too – I'm an anti-prom person. But yeah, I'm gonna update round about next week or so, so there isn't too long a wait anymore. _

_Anyway it's late in England (2am. Wow. I've been up for 18 hours)._

_Love, bexx. _


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. Note, as designated below, this is in Edward's point of view - the entire chapter. 'Who I am' is another song written by me therefore (c) Carrie Swinton. _

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 20 – This is who I am. **

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* * *

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**(EPOV)**

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Today. Was. Saturday. Who honestly woke at this God forsaken hour on a Saturday? It was seriously too early for the night that I had last night.

Yes, keep your minds out of the gutter. I slept on the floor whilst letting my girlfriend, Tanya, sleep on my bed.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I was positive I was just going to break the annoying sound-maker before rolling over and going back to sleep on my carpeted floor. That was too much effort. I could just wait until the preset time had rolled over and then it would be silent. If I could wait that long, as long as it didn't incorporate a snooze option.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

No, it was too much. I had to get up and turn the wretched thing off. Groggily, this is what I did.

I slammed the clock in attempt to stop the noise. When it didn't stop, I grabbed the thing and threw it forcefully onto the ground, hopefully smashing it. With an almighty metallic sound, the shrill 'beep' stopped. Thank goodness. My vision started to clear and I saw the broken remains of my old-fashioned alarm clock. Even if I stopped the noise I was still awake now, awake enough to not contemplate ever going back to sleep.

"You really don't want to wake up with _that_ guy," a small voice chirped behind me. I turned around to find my sister staring at the slumbering form on my bed. _Oh fuck_. I hadn't noticed that Tanya was literally in her underwear. At least she was still asleep or else she would have said something incredibly incriminating. God, she seemed to be able to sleep through an earthquake without even waking up.

"Nothing happened," I told her quickly. Alice looked at me with a raised eyebrow before meekly sniffing the air in my room.

"I know."

Jeez, could she _really_ tell whether someone had sex just by_ smelling_ it? What did sex even smell like? I probably would have to ask her later. She grimaced in a manner that she knew that she was going to be confronted with the question to which she was going to answer. Damn psychic.

"Why are you here?" I asked her, trying to keep the annoyance from my voice. I could tell that she could tell that I was annoyed with her for barging in my room.

"Turn onto Channel 3."

"Not the television stunt again," I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Whatever she has to publicly say, I really couldn't care less at the present moment."

Alice crossed the small distance between us with ferocity in each of her steps and she narrowed her brown eyes at me in scrutiny.

"You said you wanted something but when there's a chance of getting it you shy away. If you stop here, you'll never get what you really want."

At 'really' she pointedly looked at Tanya's sleeping body on my bed. Without further ado, she twirled and literally skipped out of my room and she had left two choices in my mind: Bella or Tanya.

Tanya had never lied to me before. She never broke my heart. She wasn't kind by any means but she was brutally honest. She was safe.

Bella, on the other hand, broke my heart, lied and pretended that she was someone different to who she really was. She was dangerous to be around and she was addictive. Every day that I had spent with Peyton had been sweet but her Bella side had brought out the dangerous side to me, a side that I liked. She was a double-edged sword. When I was plotting to outdo her I felt alive. She made me feel different. She was the first girl to never fall at my feet and she never really wanted much to do with me until she really got to know me. She was honest when she wanted to be. She was the only person I felt was easy to confide in, she was the first person that I had been completely and irrevocably vulnerable to.

She...she wasn't Tanya.

Yet Tanya brought me a form of closure. I realised that when I was given the opportunity I wanted to overthrow Bella. I wanted to hurt her and her precious career. I wanted to make feel as rubbish as much as she made me feel. I wanted to fuck her over just like she did fucked me over. Tanya's methods had been therapeutic. When I told that reporter how I felt and how I described each date that I shared with Bella, I really wanted the public to tear her apart. She deserved that much. At the time I believed that everyone should see that she wasn't the Malibu-Barbie girl that she had painted herself to be. I was somewhat successful.

Reflecting on it, it wasn't the cleverest thing I've ever done. It was stupid, immature and it was downright untrue for the most part. She didn't want me just for my virginity, she talked to me, communicated to me in a way that I really can't say was acted. She spoke to my soul more than any other person in the world and I had crushed her reputation by participating in one interview. My one interview brought her world down in a way that was cruel.

Her reaction was almost chivalrous. She backed out of the public eye. No one heard about her in a week as she hid to hide her shame. I had made her feel like that. It was something that Tanya had made me do. Despite how therapeutic it had felt it was also wrong. She had helped me find my mother. I had single-handedly brought down her career.

...Maybe that was what Tanya wanted when she approached me that day. Maybe it wasn't coincidental. Maybe that was her plan...

Either way, I owed it to Bella to hear what she said. I had become what she hated, the fame-hunter. She maybe wanted me for her to take a break from the high-profile relationships she was in. There was something in me that she may have believed that would never betray her. I didn't want to be the guy that was on the television, wanting the fifteen minutes, wanting the endorsements. I wanted to live in my small town or maybe, move to a different country, to be able live life without being recognised as the 'guy whose heart Peyton broke'.

She had tried in her own way to apologize. I never forgave her. After hurting her in spite, I at least owed it to her to listen to what she wanted to say even if it tore at my humanity to do so.

I grabbed the television remote before bouncing onto my bed. Tanya didn't notice the mattress fall slightly under my weight. She simply just rolled over.

_"...it" _

Oh, she finished explaining her reason for her song. I should have turned to the channel earlier to listen to her justification.

_You may think you see  
__Who I really am__  
You may think you understand__  
The person inside of me.__  
You might think that you're in love with me.__  
But I'm just a lie.__  
I'm not who you think I am.  
I'm not who you want me to be._

_I'm a girl,  
Blessed with everything  
I'm a girl  
Who can fall in love.  
You may love the fame.  
But that's not who I am.  
Because,  
This is who I am.  
This is who I am._

_Now you see  
Who this girl is  
Do you think you could accept her?  
Now you see  
This love was fake from the start.  
Now you see  
Everything that I truly am.  
I'm just me, a girl.  
BecauseI'm not who you think I am.  
I'm not who you want me to be._

_I'm a girl,  
Blessed with everything  
I'm a girl  
Who can fall in love.  
You may love the fame.  
But that's not who I am.  
Because,  
This is who I am.  
This is who I am._

_Oh, now that we've gone this far.  
Do you still love me?  
I can understand if you don't  
I was the never the girl you wanted  
I was never her  
But do you think  
You can accept...  
You can accept..._

Her hands moved from their position on the microphone on the stand and she looked at the camera, dead in the eye, before pulling her blonde locks. There was a universal gasp in the studio as her brown hair uncurled and fell on her shoulders. Her chocolate eyes looked straight and meaningfully at the screen. She was trying to convey a message that I couldn't quite read.

_...me?_

_Oooh, yeah, Oh. _

_Cos_

_I'm just a girl,  
Blessed with everything  
I'm just a girl  
Who can fall in love.  
I'm not about the fame.  
You've changed me.  
You've made me who I am.  
This is who I am.  
You're the reason,  
I am who I am. _

My heart pounded. S..She, she just...She gave up Peyton. She just...for me, she gave up her anonymity. She became Bella on national television.

"_What is this, Peyton?_" Kate Hayes was back on the screen, her eyes alight with the fact that she had gotten the juicy gossip before anyone else. Not even Oprah. Kate ushered Bella back to the sofa where her early morning show was centred. Bella was blushing and walked in shuffles. She had completely let go of Peyton, Peyton would have been more confident in her strides. She was showing the real Bella.

"_I'm not Peyton Steele, I never was, my real name is Bella Swan. I was from a small-town called Forks in Washington, I lived in Phoenix for a while to the point when I was discovered_," Bella gushed quickly.

"_You've tricked your fans for five years?_" Kate Hayes sounded incredulous.

"_I wouldn't go as far as to say I tricked you all, I just wanted the Bella side of me to remain in anonymity because I wanted a normal life._"

"_Normal? How normal?_"

She laughed. It was a sound that tore at my heartstrings. It made my heart pound even more unevenly that it had done.

"_Like, go on a hiatus for a year so you can go to high school, normal._"

This was going to go viral. She was inevitably telling the world who she really was.

"_So why now? Why are you telling us all now that you're Bella Swan, not Peyton Steele?"_

She had been looking at Kate, but she decided to look at the camera instead. She was looking directly at me. Technically not me, but metaphorically speaking.

"_I made a mistake. A really big, stupid mistake. I want to fix that and the first thing I want to do is be honest with everyone around me, because I've been so afraid that the Bella part of me was unlovable. Someone special to me told me that if I couldn't love myself, or rather, the Bella side of me, how could I expect someone else to love me? I finally understand what they meant._

"_Now I've done my bit, all I can do is wait for you. Do you remember where I first met you, or rather the second place where I met you and you wanted to know my name but I fake-named you? After I do the show, I'm going to wait for you there. If you aren't there by 12.00am, tomorrow will be the first day of forever never loving you again. 12 o'clock tonight."_

She looked at me seriously. She was speaking directly to me. She wasn't talking to any other person than me. It was specifically me. I vaguely remember meeting her for the first time near the office when she was trying to push the door open when it blatantly said 'Pull'. I remembered the second time that I met her in the cafeteria where I had accidentally bumped into her, sending her tray flying onto her things. I had initially tried to sweet-talk her into forgiving me for walking away when I had barged into her, trying to get her attention but I heard her call me a wanker. That's when I knew things had gone south. I never hated someone in my whole life without reason, mainly because she didn't fall for my charm at all. She did eventually so I let myself smirk slightly because she had done the one thing that I had never let anyone else do. She seduced me, she made me fight for her love and she made me fall in love with her. It was enough reason for a secret smile but this was erased when an arm covered my torso. I snatched the remote and switched off the television.

"Eddie," Tanya's nasal voice cooed.

"Tannie," I said, mocking her name rather than giving her a pet name.

"Oh, you are _adorable_," Tanya pinched my cheek and smiled at me. She leaned in for a kiss but I moved my head. I wasn't going to kiss someone when my head was in a shambles. It wasn't fair on the pair of them. Even if Tanya was my girlfriend. Probably soon to be ex-girlfriend.

"Morning breath," I explained and she gave me a disgusted look before backing away. She rolled away from me and reached for her phone on the bedside table. Finally. It had been vibrating for the past five minutes. I watched as Tanya looked at her inbox for a second before letting her mouth fall open. She clicked on multiple messages before reaching one conclusion,

"You are kidding me!"

"What's up?" I asked her nonchalantly.

"Everyone is wondering if I knew that Peyton was Bella Swan, you know that girl that was claiming to be Peyton's best friend like months ago," Tanya gabbled before pressing away at the buttons on her Blackberry.

I heard Bella sigh in the back of my mind. She hated BlackBerrys and often chided me when I used mine in front of her. Personally I thought it because she was just really tech-savvy. I wondered how much was because Tanya had one and Tanya really irked Bella.

"Did you?" I asked, my tone sounding a little interested.

"Well it's not true, I've seen this Bella Swan, she looks nothing like PeyPey," Tanya scoffed, "First of all she's got brown hair. PeyPey is blonde."

I _scoffed_ in the back of my head. Could she not really tell the infinite amount of similarities the pair shared? They had the same shaped eyes, their mouths were quite cute in a way seeing as they both pouted when they were bored. They had the same mischievous smile when they were up to something and I could tell she wasn't the soulless person like the person next to me.

Maybe that's why she did it. To prove she wasn't soulless. She picked me because she wanted to show me that she wasn't like the cliché. She gave everyone an equal chance, she wasn't self-absorbed. Maybe she gave herself privacy to stop herself from becoming too self-loving. By telling her that she had to reveal herself made her entire self famous. What if I unleashed a monster, an egocentric creature when I had only wanted Bella? What if she changed completely since I had last met her, she had certainly seemed more _malicious_ when I had last met her...what if that's who she was now? What if she was completely inundated with the response with the news of her confession? I shook my head. I had to stop the 'what if' theories in my head.

"Oh, now they say that I'm not her best friend if I didn't know that Peyton is Bella Swan," Tanya snorted. She climbed off my bed and she stormed around my room like a hurricane. She was furious.

"Well, she lied to everyone else maybe she lied to you too," I consoled her from where I was sitting.

"No!" Tanya glared at me, "Peyton Steele doesn't lie to me, she tells me _everything_! I know every little piece of dirt on her!"

"Maybe you don't know everything about her," I said quietly.

"Oh, really? How many people do you think know why James Port dumped her and cheated on her? It was because James promised her everything in the world and they were planning to do it in England and what does he catch her doing? _Sleeping with some other guy_. Really. She lost her _fucking virginity_ to some total nobody called _Jacob Black_. How many people know that Edward? Not many, because I'm a good best friend that hides everything for her," Tanya literally screamed at me before stomping her way across the room and slamming my door shut.

Reality hit me hard.

_What. The. Fuck?_

Had I been completely and utterly delusional? I didn't even know why she had told me what she did on the first time I ever went on a date with her. Was she making things up that time? Was she lying to me?

"_Okay, I gave you my 'I-lost-my-virginity' story, now you have to tell me one back," she prepositioned me with a gorgeous smile. _

Was this part of the plan, part of what she wanted, to gain my trust, to learn my stories in order to break my heart? Well, it worked. Now I didn't even want to know her and possibly throttle Jacob. With that resolve, I set out for action.

I grabbed a T-shirt and a pair of jeans before storming out of my room in a similar fashion that Tanya had. If everyone had heard what she had said, they knew not to come and bother me. They knew that I had a son-of-a-bitch to tend to.

"Edward..."

"Go away, Alice."

"No, listen first."

"Don't make me swear at you because I swear on everything I personally own, I am going to explode any second."

At this point, Alice just gave up. She stopped looking after me and I was too annoyed to even care if she cared about me. This wasn't even about her anymore. She was done interfering. It was either my way or the highway, and I hoped she was going to play ball. I viciously grabbed my keys from the hook in the kitchen before powerwalking towards the garage door.

I was speeding away from the house in a matter of minutes. The cottage that Black was residing in wasn't far from here. At the rate I was going, I was going to get to it...about...now. I didn't care if my car was going to get stolen at any moment. I simply wrenched the door open with the motor still running and closed the car door that was likely to unhinge it if it was attempted again. I left rather deep impressions in the gravel around the remote cottage.

I knocked the door with the same amount of force as a punch. I heard two distinct voices before one rang out clear,

"Alright, where's the fire?"

Fire was the same colour of the door. Fire was the thing that was fuelling my anger. Fire was what was I was seeing right now. If there was anything, I was the fire he was referring to and I was going to burn every last reputable bone in his body.

He opened the door gingerly and looked at me through narrow eyes.

"Cullen?"

"Black," I said through gritted teeth, "I have a bone to pick with you."

He looked at me oddly before inviting me in his house. Really? He was inviting a potential murderer into his house? I didn't care, made it easier to literally kill him since there wasn't going to be any witnesses. It didn't even seem as if Leah was home. Great, less witnesses. I walked into the front room near the door before pacing around in it.

"Want a drink?" he asked me, as if I had come round to watch football or something. When I glared at him in response he simply sat on his sofa and looked up at me.

"Cullen, why are you here?"

"To kill you," I growled menacingly.

"You make one lousy killer, I'll give you that," he chuckled under his breath. I clenched my fist.

"You make one lousy boyfriend," I spat.

Jacob looked at me before saying emphatically, "What?"

My comment had thrown him somewhat off course. I could tell that he was thinking I was referring to the fact that he had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. Oh boy was he wrong.

"You know what, I know about you and Bella, you aren't best friends at all, how long has it been going on?"

My question came to him unexpected as he flinched slightly. He did, however, know how to answer the question itself.

"We are best friends," Jacob started much to my ire, "We made one stupid mistake."

"Enlighten me," I snapped.

"Look, I bet you got the 'James Port cheated on Bella for revenge' story," Jacob sighed, not even giving in, as if the story wasn't _that _important, "The fact is, Bella and James was this whole public affair, no one saw what they didn't want to see, seeing as they were good money-spinners, but James was a renowned cheater and when he went out with Bella that didn't change anything about him.

"One night in England, he made Bella get ready and wait for him but he doesn't show. She waits a day before I get a call where she's sobbing that she's been majorly stood up. Now, I'm her best friend since the day we were born. I know for a fact that this wasn't going to end happily, so I take her jet and fly over to bring her back over.

"Edward, you should have seen her. She was a mess. She...really was upset. She knew what James was out doing whilst she was waiting for him like a housewife."

Even though I knew the next half of the story, I was determined to hear it to the end.

"So I decide to cheer her up, I wanted to take her shopping but all she wanted to do was hide her face as she was that ashamed with herself, so she decides on playing poker which turned into whoever lost had to drink which also turned into strip poker when you didn't feel like drinking.

"By the time it was happening, we were so drunk, we didn't even know it was happening. We only knew it had happened when James Port walked in on us sleeping and started yelling murder, like he was one to talk, he had a Russian model right behind him."

At least he had left out the graphic details.

"He made her promise to say that she had to say that she lost her virginity to him, so much so, that's what she believes. I don't know how much of it was in fear of him himself, in fear of everyone actually finding out or fear that we couldn't be friends after what happened. We still are and given the chance, we would never do it again, no matter what the circumstances. I have to admit, it was the biggest mistake of my life and that includes getting Leah pregnant."

He looked at me before raising an eyebrow and chuckling, "Yes, Leah knows. I wanted to be honest with her from Day One, so I told her. She was mad as heck first but something changed and she doesn't mind anymore."

It was like he had read my mind before the thought had even come to me.

"It's something that you shouldn't hold against Bella, either."

He knew my intentions, he knew that it was a reason to choose Tanya over Bella.

"She's waiting for you," Jacob said quietly, "I've seen her crazy side and I've seen her sad but I've never seen her in love. She used to have this smile all the time when she was forced to in front of cameras, she doesn't naturally like to smile but after she met you, her smile changed. I guess, now I've seen her in love."

With that in mind, I apologised for almost taking out Jacob's door before walking out.

"You have 12 hours left!"

"You know, I need to think," I called out before running towards my car, which thankfully, hadn't been stolen in the slightest. I knew that time was limited but did I really want to rush my judgement, now? I needed to mull things over in my head and I had 12 hours to do it. It was sufficient time to do so.

I drove home before parking in the garage. Instead of going into the house, I took a walk outside in the woods. A small river was nearby which was near my favourite spot. It took be two minutes to reach the smooth rock that overlooked the river.

So, Bella had lied to me about who she had done it with first. I couldn't really tolerate that seeing as I had been upfront about my virginity issues. She had taken mine, knowingly knowing that she was lying about hers being taken. What if everything else was a lie like her emotions and the stuff she said to me. What if everything had been one act and she was waiting in the Forks cafeteria with Ashton Kutcher to say, 'Edward Cullen, you've just been Punk'd!'

If she was able to lie about something like that then what if our whole relationship was going to be based on lies? It already had been a lie before and I didn't want to have to go through that again.

Maybe I shouldn't go, maybe Tanya was the right one for me. Despite the fact that it made me feel bad for using her for my own personal gain, she was a safe choice. She wasn't going to lie about anything, just maybe, hide certain things from me. She the kind of person I could imagine spending the rest of my life with and everything would be idealistic in her way. I didn't mind, I probably would like her quietness. I did like her quietness. Her voice really grated on me sometimes.

"I knew you would be here," a gruff voice said behind me.

Jasper, my best friend, sat next to me on the rocks. I gave him a weak smile before lying down and stretching on the rock.

"What troubles you now?" Jasper asked. As if he didn't already know but I told him anyway.

He didn't reply for a while as he inspected me. He took his time before saying, "Do you want to talk about it?"

So I told him. Everything. Every last detail, even the fact that I had lost my virginity to her. I told him about my thoughts of today and how I really considered Tanya to be an option.

"What if everything was a lie? What if all she wants is to get me back for what I did? I mean, that's all we did as Bella and Peyton. What if it doesn't work this time? What if I throw away a perfectly safe option, like Tanya, for a dangerous one?"

Jasper had been stony-faced since I had started to talk about it, this expression didn't change, it just deepened. When I stopped talking he promptly slapped me across the cheek. Not in the girly-hard way, guy-hard. This act of violence from usually pacifist Jasper shocked me to the core.

"What the fuck was that for?"

"Edward, are you even hearing yourself? Maybe if you spent less time with 'what ifs' that are negative against Bella think about ones that are for yourself. What if you spend the next half-hour after his bitching that some chick ripped you off because her psycho boyfriend made her say something that you didn't like and miss her? Didn't Jacob Black tell you straight? It was a fucking mistake, you girl. Leah is alright with it and she's carrying Jacob's baby, so what are you complaining for? How many other girls did you sleep with when you got back from Chicago? 30, 40, even more? Whilst she was getting her fucking GED so she could get to college you were busy fucking the entire girl population of Forks. So stop judging her, stop being time sulking on this rock and go to her before you say: 'what if I had gone earlier?'"

"Jazz you aren't being fair!" I shouted at him. He had done a complete 180 to what he normally did. He was normally supportive and he would have said that Bella was in the wrong, instead, he was chastising _me_? What did I do wrong?

"Yes I am, you say that Bella plotted against you. I give you that, she planned to break your heart but if you didn't act like a dickhead all the time you wouldn't need the wake-up call."

That was when Jasper made a sound as if to say he was incredibly disgusted and he wanted nothing to do with me.

Thanks Bella. First you take my virginity then you take my friends. I hope you have a nice life.

At that point I realised that I couldn't stand her. I fell asleep on the rock, hoping to wake up at some early hour of the next day. I wasn't going to the Forks cafeteria. No chance in hell.

x-x-x-x-x-x

"Where. Have. You. Been?" Esme said when I got home that night. My back ached so I resolved that by stretching before answering her.

"Out."

She tutted at me before telling me I had a visitor who had waited five hours for me.

"Who?"

"Leah Clearwater, you know Edward, I knew you were by your rock but you've never been there for so long. It's not kind to keep a girl waiting, especially if she's pregnant."

I kept my mouth in control as I desperately wanted to blurt out the fact I didn't know she was even here, she it was unfair to even accuse me of actually knowingly keeping her there. I sighed as I walked into the living room where Alice and Jasper were happily entertaining Leah. Alice saw me first and tugged Jasper's arm. Jasper didn't need tugging as he walked out voluntarily. Alice stopped short of me and opened her mouth. She thought better of this as she closed it and muttered something under her breath before following Jasper out.

"Edward," Leah groaned, stretching herself. Before I had a backache and had done the same thing, I couldn't imagine what Leah's backaches were like.

"Leah," I replied curtly.

"Jake tells me you confronted him about the Bella incident," Leah said softly.

"So?"

"Go after her before you make the biggest mistake of your life," Leah whispered.

"Why should I?" I snapped, "Why doesn't she come to me?"

"She's afraid that you'll cut her off."

"Damn right I will," I told Leah with a smug look on my face.

"You don't want to be with her on account that she lied about how she lost her virginity?" Leah said incredulously.

"Amongst other things..."

"God, if every guy were like you Edward, I think that no one would be married. Whatever happened or whatever didn't happen with Bella and Jacob was before we stepped in the picture. I don't blame Jacob, I could easily say that he took advantage of his vulnerable friend but I don't. Do you know why?"

"He got you pregnant?"

She looked at me before scoffing under her breath, "No. Because of this thing Jacob does. I see him look at other girls, flash them a flirtatious smile but then he looks at me and gives me this _smile_ that makes me feel as if I was important, more important that the girls he's talking to. If Jacob did what Bella did, I think I would ooze out of my seat. I wouldn't wait, I would go straight there."

"You're a girl, it's different."

"In love you have to make some sacrifices, you have to sacrifice integrity and courage and you have to let yourself be completely and wholly defenceless against the person you love. You have to sacrifice yourself, let yourself get hurt, let yourself be sad, let yourself to remember the bad times because it helps you grow and move on. If you remember the sad times you cherish the good times. If you remember how you got hurt you can love more. If you hold on too much on the past, you'll never move forward."

Leah looked at me with as much wisdom in her eyes as Esme.

"Has Bella ever done anything for you that you'd never think anyone could do?"

I looked at Leah before looking at my clasped hands, "She found my birth mother."

Leah wasn't taken aback by this. She simply looked at me with a grin on her face, all wisdom gone from her young face.

"If she could do that, she proved that she loves you, she's done something out of pure love that you can't forget. Now, if you could ask your mother right now, what would she say?"

"Go after her."

"Then go."

With that I ran towards the door. I paused and turned to Leah and said, "Thanks."

I didn't stop to hear her say, 'you're welcome'. I ripped the doors obstructing me from my car almost off. I reversed my car out of the driveway so quickly that gravel spat up into the air and rained on my car. I checked the clock time. It was 11.48pm. I had 12 minutes. Forks High School was 15 minutes away without traffic. I had to try. I pushed my Volvo to its limit and sped all the way there. I would gladly pay for any ticket that I got for speeding. Thankfully there was no traffic. I swerved and screeched into the Forks High School car park and didn't care about parking. I yanked my keys out of the ignition before running with the keys in the air and locking the doors effectively whilst doing so. I had gotten there in record time, 9 minutes. I had three minutes to sprint across campus towards the cafeteria. There was no time to waste.

They didn't call me 'fast' because I went through girls that quick.

I jumped over bushes and shrubs as they became hurdles. The cafeteria was in sight and I could see a light to show there was someone there. It was still across the courtyard. With an unfound burst of energy, the ground flew under my feet. The world blurred around me as I sprinted across the courtyard. I opened the door of the building and went through the maze of corridors, sometimes doubling back as I had gone too far. I reached the cafeteria doors. Through the top window, I could see the clock. 11.59pm. I made it. I opened the door and looked around. It was empty.

Empty.

I walked briskly towards the table that she had sat at on the first day, where she always sat. The chair had been pulled out as if someone had sat there but left. She had left. It was fucking 11.59pm and 29 seconds and she had left. She hadn't left a note. She had completely closed her heart on me as she realised I wouldn't come.

_What if I had gone earlier?

* * *

_

_Shock. Horror. Cliffhanger._

_Hope this chapter clears up a lot of Edward questions._

_Note: The song in the last chapter was called 'Ever Yours' I wrote the lyrics to it but yeah. _

_Chapter reference: "Who I am" by me. I am so modest, not._

_This story was nominated for an award and you can vote here: http:/twilightallhumanawards(dot)webs(dot)com/voting(dot)htm, replace the (dot) with actual dots and my story is under 'Drama that had you hooked'. _

_Okay. So what do you think is gonna happen in the next chapter? _

_And on the exam countdown: 2 to go, prom is tomorrow. WOO. _

_Love, bexx. _


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

_

**Just don't give up, I am working it out

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**

"Oh God, oh God, oh God."

"It's going to be okay," I said to the figure who was holding my arm as if they let go they would die. It was a white lie but I didn't know how it was going to plan out so what else could I tell her? It wasn't as if I was in the situation she is in and by the way she was half-screaming, I doubt I would actually be in the situation.

_Sorry but you are screwed for the next...I don't know how many hours...? _

Way to go Bella. That is why lying was invented.

"Oh God..."

I looked at the hair that was sticking to her sweaty face as she panted and rubbed her swollen belly. Thank God I didn't have to push her in that wheelchair.

"Leah, you're going to be fine," I kept my tone serious to soothe her. There was no way I was going to tell her she was going to have to push a baby out of her... I wasn't even going to attempt to go there.

Urgh. Where was Jacob when I needed him? His girlfriend was in labour and where was he? He better not be watching the stupid plasma so loud he can't hear the screams of his girlfriend as the contractions came. Seriously. He was going to witness his baby giving birth, or else. Jacob had to hear the screams that were deafening me at the moment. Jacob had to realise what he had done, the severity of what happens when you forget those crucial things.

I sighed. It wasn't as if I was here out of real choice. At 11.50pm, I got the call from Leah to go pick her up as she had been driving when her water broke. She couldn't get to Jacob and she didn't know what to do. Naturally I aborted any mission I had to go help her. I wasn't going to say, "Sorry Leah, can you wait ten minutes so I can see if Edward, my love, shows up?"

No one did that to a pregnant girl. _No one._ I did the right thing. I left. Plus, I had sat there in the cafeteria since 9am in the morning. I had spent nearly 15 hours of sitting in the same seat and looking like a total plank. Every time I heard footsteps approach the cafeteria, I felt my heart start to pound violently, as if it was him. It didn't register that I'd heard those same footsteps before and it was the janitor checking how I was. I felt such an idiot when I saw that he wasn't coming at all. He was never going to come. The janitor left after 6pm and that was when all footsteps ceased. That was the good thing about him leaving. I didn't get my hopes up when I heard footsteps mainly because there were none.

So when 11.50pm rolled around and when Leah called me, I had abandoned all hope. There was no way he was going to show in the next ten minutes, so why even try and pretend that I was going to wait? He obviously didn't want me anymore, he had his new girlfriend. I guess that's who he spent the entire day with. I bet he hadn't even seen what I done and therefore didn't know that I had literally given him everything that he wanted on a silver platter. I suppose I was the only one that was stupid enough to believe everything that he said, or even stupid enough to delude myself that he was going to run away with me if I did what he wanted.

Instead of getting him, at the end of the day, I looked like a total idiot.

"Where. Is. Jacob?" Leah whispered through gritted teeth. I wringed my hands and stared sympathetically at her.

"Let me call him," I told her and she let go of my arm.

I felt the life gush back into my dead arm. I watched as she was pushed away from me into a room by an orderly. I pulled my phone out of my pocket ready to call Jacob and give him hell.

Speak of the devil.

"Jacob? Where the fuck are you? Your girlfriend is giving birth to your baby," I hissed as soon as I picked up. There was a pause.

I waited.

I could hear the truck rumble in the background.

"You're at the hospital?"

He finally says something.

"What part of 'giving birth to your baby' did you not understand? Oh course I'm at the hospital, where do you think Leah was going to give birth? In her car?" My voice was getting louder and louder and starting to attract attention from patients passing behind me. Some had stopped and stared at me.

"You're not at the Forks cafeteria?"

"JACOB! I AM AT THE HOSPITAL, NOW YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS HERE BEFORE I KICK IT HERE."

With that, I hung up and pinched my nose. I took a few deep breaths. I didn't need Jacob to be an ass about everything right now. He needed to be here, not asking pointless questions about my whereabouts. Why did it matter to him, anyway? His main priority was to be at Leah's side. Until then, I would have to be at her side...and possibly had to watch the birthing. Oh, I just wished Jacob would come faster, the kumquat. I turned around to walk back to Leah who was probably wondering where I was.

That was a problem at the moment as people had crowded around me.

"Um, excuse me," I said as politely as I could.

No one moved.

"Are you Peyton Steele?" someone asked. It was someone near the back.

"No." I was short and snappy. If these people didn't move they would face the true wrath that I had. I was already pissed off with Jacob and Mr. No-show, I didn't need to have people look at me and piss me off even more. Plus, since they knew that I was a headcase anyway, I may just put on a little show. Let them know I was as volatile as the papers made it out to be, that I needed therapy, that I was a loose cannon that will punch innocent photographers that tried to sell a picture of my ass to a second-rate ass-rating website.

"Are you Bella Swan?" it was someone closer to the front this time. I could lie. They wouldn't believe me. But I could still lie.

Nah, what use did that have _now_?

"Yes, now could you please excuse me?"

They didn't budge. I didn't really expect them too. Yet I didn't expect them to surge towards me like one big wave. They clamoured forwards. They all moved towards me in order to touch me or demand something in return. Damn, why hadn't I worn a wig to disguise myself from this? This was why I loved my anonymity, this was why I never told the world who I really was. Because of situations like these. I couldn't be normal here. I could never be normal again. People would look deeper into my face as they knew I changed my hair colour to hide my identity.

This was all because I met and fell in love with Edward Cullen.

Didn't I tell myself nearly every day that I needed him like a fish needs a bicycle? Apparently not.

Fitz had taught me how to deal in these situations, when there was a crowd of people and no bodyguard to protect me. I ducked and fell onto my knees. I crawled as quickly as I could through the legs. Most people didn't notice anyway because they were too busy surging forwards to care that they were walking into something. After all, it could be one of their fallen who couldn't reach the intended target. That was one less opposition for them in their opinion so they didn't have to stop. It did mean I got kicked in the face a lot but that wasn't the problem at the moment. The issue was moving away before people noticed that I was no longer there. People were going to notice they were clinging on someone who wasn't me and they were going to notice that in the eye of the hurricane of people, there was no Bella Swan or Peyton Steele. I moved on ahead, ignoring the shame and humiliation of finally being noticed and being attacked as _Bella_, something I had never wanted.

Why was I so stupid?

After what seemed like ages, I knew that I was on the fringe of the crowd. This was the harder part. How could I run away and seem like I wasn't a suspicious character? The last thing I needed was for a crowd of people to chase me through a hospital. Urgh, if only I had a wig or a hoodie to hide myself.

I was there, on the edge. I could walk away with my hair covering my face.

I was there. On the edge. There was only one pair of legs that she had to crawl around.

Except, this pair of legs weren't moving at all. There was just an immobile pair of legs in black pants. The legs to who it belonged to didn't want to get involved with the large crowd. I tried to crawl around them but they moved in front of me, blocking from moving away from the crowd. I had to pretend that I wasn't the person they were looking for, I had to pretend to be different, as if I had been injured and I was just trying to get away. I couldn't look up at all, in case that my plan fell apart. I gritted my teeth and crawled across but the legs followed me.

"What is your problem?" I growled before looking up. This time I was sure this person was playing around and I had no other choice. My heart stopped when I recognised the person that was there, staring down at me.

"Put this on," I heard him say and something fell on my head and covered my vision. A hoodie. I grabbed at it as if I was on the brink of starvation and pulled it around me immediately before covering my head with the hood. Heh, sometimes when I ask for something, I get it, even if it's from the person I wanted to see the least but wanted the most. I stood up, unnoticed by the fighting people and he put his arm around me to lead me away from the chaos. The crowd itself wasn't suspicious of a couple simply walking away from them. He led me across several corridors, turning right and left and left again, so many times, I felt as if I was in a labyrinth. After a while he stopped and looked left and right for anyone that could pass us and catch us. Seeing no one, as smoothly as he could, he opened a door, pushed me through and locked it.

He had led me to an unused private room and I was alone with him.

Awkward much?

"What are you doing here?" I glared at the person who was pacing in front of the door.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he shot back tersely, "You said until 12.00am, I had until 12 in the morning!"

I stood up with my fists were clenched, ready to knock some sense into him.

"Oh _sorry_, if I waited for nearly 15 hours for you to show! Do you realise that I waited that long? Every time I heard someone coming I thought it was you, but it wasn't, do you even _understand_ how hurt I am? When did you get there, 11.59pm?"

My tone was hysterical by the time I had gotten to the end of my tirade. He had tensed when I told him my assumption. He looked at me painfully.

_He had gone at 11.59pm. _

What kind of a douchebag did that? If he wanted a chance he would have gone the _second_ I had announced it. If anything, he if loved me the way that he said he loved Peyton... if I knew the Edward Cullen who had cried when Peyton broke up with him, he would have been there before I was even there. I half expected him to be sat there, but it didn't bother me when he wasn't. I waited hours. And hours.

And he showed up at the last minute, when I was driving my friend to the hospital as she gave birth. I was already gone.

A sob worked its way up my throat and I turned around so if I started crying he wouldn't be able to see. I was never going to cry in front of him. Never.

"Bells..."

"No one but my friends can call me Bells," I spat angrily without even looking at him. I had used words that he had used before and I was turning the tables back onto him. Without any prompting I felt arms encircle me and press me against a hard body. That was when it was all over. That's when my heart made its decision. The tears I had been holding in came pouring out. One by one, my pain came out in the form of tears.

"You were supposed to be there," I whispered. The arms tightened.

"I know, I'm such an idiot."

"You came at the last minute," I sniffed.

"I should have gone earlier."

"I've already closed my heart to you," I said pointlessly and it was a complete lie. The arms released their grip and I felt my body spin. Edward Cullen's fingers ghosts my neck and he pulled my face up to look at his. My breath caught.

His green eyes were full of repentance and were glistening as if he would start crying. His hair lay matted around his face. Even in his dishevelled state he still managed to look good.

"I can't change what you want, but I can try."

"How?"

He didn't say a word. He just lowered his face and brushed his lips against mine, reviving my frozen heart slightly. It didn't mean anything. He was just doing something.

"No, Edward..." I moaned and pulled my away from him. His hands moved from my waist towards my hair. His long fingers knotted in my hair and pulled my face towards his again. His lips were on my cheek.

"I love you, Bella Swan... in a way, I always have."

His words hit me like a soft cloud and my heart beat a little in hope. He kissed me from my cheek, closer and closer to my lips, stopping at the corner of my mouth/

"You hated Bella," I said truthfully before he could plant a kiss on it. Thanks mouth. Now my heart hit the last nail in its coffin and refused to beat anymore. Thanks for ruining a potentially great kiss. He pulled away from my and his hands fell limp beside him and looked at me with earnest.

"Before you came to Forks, it was this boring dump where girls would pick me up and use me like I was a tissue, except that day when I told you to push the door at the office, I wanted to meet you again. Despite the fact that I had never tried to talk to a person before, I wanted to try. I desperately wanted to see you again."

"You did."

He chuckled but it didn't reach his eyes, "I really wanted to apologise when I broke your bag, no offense but that was intentional. I wanted to find a way to speak to you and I really didn't think it was designer because if it was, there was a chance that Alice would have it."

"She does now."

He chuckled again, "Well, when I heard you call me a wanker, I was mad. Really mad. I suppose I'm arrogant in the sense that I can't be disliked. I just didn't know why you would label me and be there for only one day."

"So why did you do all those things?"

I looked up at him specifically for that question and he squirmed much to my delight.

"Maybe in my twisted mind, I believed the meaner I was to you, the more you would want me."

"That _is_ twisted."

"Then, Peyton Steele came along and it just made me happy to realise how angry I was making you when I talked about her to you but then I realised I was actually in love with Peyton as well."

"But, _I'm _Bella."

"I know that, Bella. I love you, God, you thinking I'm a wanker is damn straight."

I didn't know what to say. I had given up on him, wholly, completely but he had come back, he had forced his way into my life again.

"Are you serious?" I asked, my voice barely a raspy sound.

"Deadly."

His response made me lunge forward and hold him as hard as I could. The tears slowly became heaving sobs. It was really unattractive but if he loved me as much as he said he did he wouldn't care.

I thought I was imagining it but I felt his chest vibrate too. His arms reached around me and he grabbed me so tightly that I could feel as if he didn't want to let me go, that he didn't want to lose me again. I could feel him shaking. He was crying with me. His head was buried into my shoulder and I could feel something wet. He was actually crying.

He was crying with Bella Swan, for Bella Swan. For me, the real me. Not Peyton. Me.

It was wrong to wish a boy to start crying but I couldn't help the feeling of ecstasy rush through me as I realised this.

After a while, when we had both calmed down, he sat on the chair beside the door and I was sitting cross-legged on the bed, we started talking again. Just chatty banter that we had done when we were Peyton and Edward. It was finally a relief to be Bella and Edward. The three words sent an indescribable tingle down my spine. We were finally Bella and Edward. Edward and Bella. Either way that I could say it, we would be still be connected.

"Marmite, hate it or love it?" he asked me with a smile. I smirked.

"Still haven't tried it."

"What? You've had 7 months to try it!"

"Well _sorry,_ if I want to go to college next year and didn't have a second to even go out and buy Marmite."

He had frozen when I had told him I wanted to go to college.

"You're going to college?"

"Yup. I graduated high school already, so I can go to college."

"Don't tell me, you're going to major in English Literature," he said slowly and meeting my eyes carefully.

"How did y-?"

"...Because _I _was going to major in English Literature and I suppose in some strange way, we are kind of made for each other," he cut me off with a huge goofy grin which grew bigger as the sentence wore on.

"Huh, maybe there is fate," I muttered.

He gave me a look to continue.

"Edward, I was never going to close my heart to you, I-I can't, not even when you walked out in Chicago or did that interview, I was never capable of completely shutting you out... but hypothetically, if we ended up at the same college and doing the exact same thing, then it would have been highly likely that I would have gone for you again, despite saying that I had closed my heart to you."

His goofy grin turned menacing and he leaned back in his chair, kicking his legs forward. He stretched in front of me and then rested the back of his head on his open palms.

"...So I didn't have to come here, after all."

That remark made me choke. I narrowed my eyes at him and threw a pillow at him. He caught it swiftly so it wouldn't even touch the intended target. Good job there was another pillow if I ever needed to use it.

"How did you even get here?" I asked him, yawning and lying down on the bed, "...and if you say car, this pillow is going to hit your face regardless of your reflexes."

"Jacob drove me here."

That explained the weird phone call asking where I was. I mean, Jacob...oh, shit. Jacob. _Leah_.

I rolled off the bed whilst using my best Mission Impossible impersonation. When I actually collided with the ground I heard an amused laugh. I rolled my eyes as I pulled myself up and gave the person who had laughed a venomous glare. He did a charade that mocked my dagger stare. This led me to roll my eyes before pulling myself to my feet. Grabbing the bed for support I managed to stand on my own two feet despite the fact that a pair of emerald eyes was inspecting me, turning them into jelly.

Sometimes I like to wonder to myself whether his eyes had superpowers.

"My eyes don't have superpowers," I heard him say randomly.

Damn it. I did that stupid speaking aloud thing again.

"I meant, hypothetically, if they did...what one would they have?" I tried to cover up what I had said with a question so I didn't sound bizarre.

Without a shadow of a doubt he answered immediately with, "X-Ray vision."

This deserved one of the dirtiest looks from me. I stormed past him towards the door of the private room and made a disgusted sound.

He stood up from his chair and took my hand by the wrist and bent down so his mouth was inches from my ear, "On only you."

This caused my cheeks to flame up and redden like a tomato. My hands grew sweaty and shaky, so I couldn't undo the lock on the door. Edward looked away from me for a moment and looked at what I was doing. Using only his index finger, he flicked the lock easily and smirked at me.

Giving him another dirty look, I opened the door and flicked the hood over my head. I walked out of the dark room and let my eyes adjust to the sudden light. I felt Edward sneak his hand around my waist as we walked out together.

Without warning, he kissed me on my head sending butterflies in my stomach haywire.

If I had ever thought that this was a dream I was wrong. This couldn't ever be a dream because my mind wasn't that sadistic to begin with. This wasn't a dream, it was my reality. The signs of him were all there. There was a newfound spring in my step. My cheeks ached from smiling too much. An immobile lump in my throat...all signs of the changes that he had brought to me. Proof that he was mine, finally mine.

Not Peyton's as I so believed before. He was Bella's or in other words... mine.

Since I had no idea where I was going and Edward clearly did, I let him lead me around to where Leah was probably giving birth. Or waiting to give birth... I wasn't exactly familiar with childbirth but I was sure that she was going to need moral support. Edward's hand moved from my hand and took my hand instead. He looked at me before muttering in my ear, "I love you, Bella Swan."

Then I think my world tilted on its axis and everything was righted. He'd said it a million times before but never with the intensity that he just had. I turned to face him, my eyes locked onto his and smiled.

"I love you too, Edward Cullen."

x-x-x-x-x

After 10 gruelling hours in labour, Aylen Sarah Black was born into the world.

Alice appeared in the waiting area around 5 hours into labour. She had heard from Edward where we were and since this was one of the first births that she could be around for, she was going to hang around and see what happened. She had extended the carpool to Rosalie, but Rosalie would rather break her ankle than confront someone giving birth. She wasn't ready for that kind of exposure yet.

Guess who is the godmother of the cutest little girl in the world? You see, Alice wanted it, a lot, because she just wanted to be a godmother. However, even she couldn't deny the fact that I was Jacob's best friend, and even though I would not be into the girly stuff like Alice was, I deserved the role more. Despite this, I appointed Alice had deputy godmother, just to humour her.

It was Quil and Embry who spent an hour arguing who would be the kid's godfather. Edward suggested that they fight it out on the parking lot and this suggestion was taken seriously until Jacob stopped the pair from even leaving the hospital room. There was to be no bloodshed between his two best friends on the happiest day of his life. Edward tried to not look too disappointed, as he was a little disappointed because his idea was immediately shot down, but he understood Jacob's reasoning.

The matter was quickly solved over a Pokémon battle as suggested by an exhausted Leah. Both whipped their Nintendo's out and played each other to the death, metaphorically. After implementing a 'no-swapping' Pokémon rule after 15 minutes of stalemate gameplay (since they knew the weakness of the other's Pokémon and had a Pokémon that could easily defeat said Pokémon) it was clear that Embry spent most of his time raising his Pokémon and training them to a level that Quil couldn't quite reach. Of course, Embry was accused of cheating, but fair was fair. Embry was Aylen's godfather. Quil was his deputy, again just to humour Quil. (And Embry didn't want Quil to feel like a complete loser).

As appointed godparents and deputy godparents, Embry, Alice, Quil and I were in charge of setting up the cottage for Leah and Jacob when they brought Aylen home. Alice and I made sure there were the baby essentials and Quil and Embry were going to get the car that I was going to insist that Jacob had, for the baby.

Edward was going to break the news to Tanya, that he was no longer dating her and didn't want anything to do with her anymore. Despite the fact that Edward had come clean and admitted that he had just stopped short of sleeping with every girl in Forks, I was glad that he came clean about what happened and he was honest about what he did.

I suppose I would have been mad. Except, that was a long time before we got back together. I was so done with the teenage angst and holding everything in the past. Everyone deserved a clean slate. Sometimes even Tanya and James. That didn't mean that I was going to beg for them to keep in contact. There was no way that I was going to let James Port ever call me 'PeyPey'. I could never forgive him for coining that nickname that Tanya adores. At least she was no longer my best friend, so her calling me other than 'Bella' wasn't tolerable anymore.

Finally, I had made her so mad that she didn't want to acknowledge me or even call me. Finally, the nasal voice of a stereotypical blonde was gone. No more stupid questions that required stupid answers. No more F full stop R full stop I full stop E full stop N full stop D full stop S full stop.

"Do you remember when you asked me if you were going to be happy?" Alice looked at me over the plumped-up pillows in the living room of the cottage. We were awaiting the arrival of Jacob, Leah and Aylen as well as Quil and Embry who were still gone from getting the car in Seattle. Other people had yet to arrive for the small welcome party that Alice had organised to military precision.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I lied...or rather, didn't tell you the entire truth," she confessed quietly.

"You've said that before," I said, paying no real attention, "you were right, I'm happy as Bella."

"Yeah. I suppose," Alice said loftily, her voice trailing off. She looked at me and laughed awkwardly.

"What?" A nervous involuntary smile was on my face.

"I did see you happy as Bella," Alice muttered, "but in regards to Edward, I only saw Edward with you."

"Peyton or Bella?" I asked before gasping for dramatic effect, "or Francis?"

Alice gave me a look that described exactly what she thought of my redheaded with electric-blue highlights, blue-glasses wearing, red-contacts using friend.

"Francis, definitely."

I sniggered, "Dang it. I think I may have to stay Francis."

The mere idea made Alice pale. I rolled my eyes and told her I was joking. My assurance that I would never become Francis ever again brought colour back into her cheeks. I think she even started to breathe properly again.

"Well, it was Bella, actually," she finally explained. I sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Come on, you were too happy being Peyton to care," Alice justified perfectly.

"I suppose I pretended to care about Edward as Peyton but you have to admit, he said that he pretended to be in love with Peyton at first."

Alice laughed, "I knew that he always had a crush on you, he was always over-concerned about outdoing you distract himself from believing that he had a little crush on you."

I rolled my eyes at her, "You're Alice. You're psychic. You're probably going to tell me every single detail of what is going to happen in the next...two or three years."

Alice winked at me before saying,

"Of course, _Bella Swan_."

* * *

_Bear hugs to all those who were waiting for this chapter like hungry piranhas. This was one of the hardest chapters I've ever written so, it took longer than I expected. _

_Okay, so I decided that I was going to finish the story now, technically this is the penultimate chapter with an epilogue coming shortly, but this was it. There wasn't going to be another arc in the story. Everything that I wanted in the beginning when I first wrote this has happened. What else can happen? Bella's finally herself. She has Edward. Leah has had her daughter and Jacob. Tanya has... well, what is left of her pride and dignity. _

_(Btw, for people who are confused about Leah's sudden labour, I have mentioned in the last chapter that she was due in the upcoming months. However, there are those sudden pregnancies where someone is incredibly early (like my sister in real life who's early birth caused my uncle to speed and therefore get a speeding ticket for trying to get my screaming mother to the hospital). _

_Song title reference, Adam Lambert – What do you want from me? _

_Okay, the epilogue is underway and I most definitely have the time to get it written in the next two days, depending how I feel._

_Love, bexx. _


	22. Epilogue

_Disclaimer to Stephenie Meyer. "Aylen's Lullaby" is © Carrie Swinton (;

* * *

_

**Epilogue**

**You've got a piece of me and honestly, my life would suck without you.

* * *

**

(_2 Years Later_)

"Edward this is a _Hallowe'en _party, you're supposed to _dress up_."

Edward was in a casual jacket and clothes, obviously not dressed up at all and taken the whole Hallowe'en party seriously. Sure, I maybe only wearing a lab coat, but my hair was insanely messed-up, meaning that I was a mad scientist for the night. He was just...

"...a vampire?" I said incredulously, "Are you serious?"

"Of course," he said, his voice breaking slightly.

"Vampires wear capes and _black_."

"Nope, they can wear whatever they want."

"You look exactly the same as you do when we go on a date," I rolled my eyes at him.

"Can't you tell I'm paler?" he asked me with surprise, "Alice put some pale foundation stuff on me."

I eyed him carefully. The only difference I could tell was his red contacts. I told him so.

"Plus, vampires have fangs," I pointed out his lack of pointy fangs and he crossed his arms and looked at me.

"Look, I don't need fangs since my teeth are sharp enough to cut through skin," he justified.

I looked across the room and met Alice's gaze.

We knew what the other was thinking.

He forgot to buy fangs and is making up excuses.

Tonight, I suppose I could forgive him. There was a chance that his vampire folklore was a lot different than mine and there was the chance that he was telling the truth. I just had to accept that he browsed some obscure and unknowable website that told him the vampires had teeth so sharp it cut through skin.

"_Let's welcome to the stage, Bella Swan!"_

There was a raucous applause of approval as a small torch light hit my face. I smiled at the small, awaiting crowd before making my way towards the small, makeshift stage.

It's been two years since I ousted myself as Bella Swan. The idea of college has actually been postponed, it was a route I hadn't planned on going down, which was why I spent two months at the same college Edward was at before dropping out to return to music. Music was my soul and college was a way to fix my soul. Aro was a little disappointed but was ecstatic when I asked him, Caius and Marcus to teach me more of what they knew. This time when I released my next album, I was Bella Swan – the Peyton Steele era was over. I was welcomed back into the music world with warmth and sympathy and soon before long, my first album under my real name.

I've never been so happier in my life. As Peyton, I thought that the blonde-hair was what made me confident and so successful but to be honest, I was more successful now as myself. People connected with me as they saw I was a real person, a real role model. There was no level of fakeness. My best friends were practically nobodies, my boyfriend who I was forever faithful was someone who had gone out with a model but as for that no one knew Jacob Black, Alice Cullen or Rosalie Hale, my best friends. Despite the fact that I was now world-renowned as myself and they finally realised why I loved the anonymity.

Even Edward said that I could be Francis in order to hide myself. I took up this offer with gusto but Alice promptly told me that if I ever assumed the role of Francis ever again, she was going to cut me out of her life. This earned her a raised eyebrow and Francis's wig was shoved back into the back of my wardrobe.

Aylen is thriving. I could see her from my position on the stage. Leah had dressed her in a fairy costume for the small Hallowe'en party. I waved to her before getting my guitar and seating myself on the stool. She really was the cutest girl in the universe. Leah and Jacob had taken the role of parents seriously. Sometimes, there was the odd occasion where Jacob relied on me to look after Aylen for a week so the couple could have a little peace.

Even then, they spent a lot of time calling and making sure that Edward was never alone with Aylen. They didn't really trust Aylen with Edward even if it was him tucking her into bed. Aylen had made it clear that she adored her 'Uncle' Edward, who showered her with attention during her stay at Bella's small apartment. However, this attention meant that she was often hyperactive before bed and therefore it was me who often had to sing her to sleep.

_I'm standing right here,  
Oh-Oh.  
Watching you sleep,  
There's nothing to keep you awake tonight,  
No monsters under your bed._

_Hush, my baby,  
Hush, dear one.  
Just try to sleep.  
There's always tomorrow,  
For fun and games.  
Just sleep tonight,  
Sleep tonight._

_You're like a princess,  
Oh-Oh  
But there's no pea.  
There's nothing to keep you awake at all,  
No dragons at all._

_Hush, my baby,  
Hush, dear one.  
Just try to sleep.  
There's always tomorrow,  
For fun and games.  
Just sleep tonight,  
Sleep tonight._

_Just sleep tonight, sleep tonight._

Everyone looked at me oddly as I finished my first song except for Aylen who was smiling at me.

"That was for my god-daughter, Aylen, who I think needs to go to sleep."

I watched as Aylen chuckled and bury her head in her mothers' leg. Leah smiled down at her daughter and mouthed, "Thank you," to me.

It was a while before I was really accepted back into the circle of famous people that I used to chat sometimes. Tanya, I didn't connect with so much anymore. She was back to dating James Port and they were creating tabloids with all the things that they did. Once they publicised the fact they did it in a park and it caused public uproar that didn't recover their reputation.

That's when the pair started to sell stories about me, and how hurt they were by my revelation. No one really cared because they couldn't be trusted because of what they were saying anyway. They were called attention-seekers so no one believed what they said, even though a small fraction of what they said was true. That was what happened when you cried wolf.

The door rang and I saw Alice move from Jasper towards the door. I continued with my set despite the fact that it was my job to greet the guests and take their coats.

"Hey, hey, hey, who is that on my seat?" a voice boomed over the music and everyone looked in the direction of the door. I rolled my eyes and told signalled to stop the background music.

"Hey, Peyton," I called out to the thickset 'woman' that was parting the partygoers like the Red Sea. 'She' flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder and I laughed.

"Okay, seeing as _I _was under the first wig, who's under the second?" I called out to the people. They had smirks on their faces and there was a few sniggers.

Peyton Steele was the butt of a few jokes now. At first it was a public thing for news broadcasters to wear wigs and pretend that they were 'revealing' themselves to the public for who they really are. I was sure something like that happened on Family guy, but either way, I wasn't really bothered anymore. I was Bella Swan now and even Renee said that it was alright that I was the late-night joke, she had that type of sense of humour, as did I, which meant we laughed with it rather than at it.

Emmett pulled his wig off and shook his head.

"It's me, Emmett!" Emmett laughed.

Every Hallowe'en since the day I had revealed my true identity to the world, Emmett would dress up as Peyton Steele. I didn't know at first that there was a 'Peyton Steele' disguise available that had a wig that uncannily resembled the one I wore. Then I realised that Fitz had given my wig, or at least one of them, to Emmett.

"Nice wig, where did you get it from? Ebay?"

I turned around and found Tanya, dressed as a skinned rabbit, because I was sure there were more layers on a rabbit than what covered Tanya's...well, there was most of her torso covered and there was something on the lower body. Other than that...there was just bare skin, which made her stand out at my small Hallowe'en party.

"Tanya, you're in my apartment, can you please hold yourself back out of politeness?" I growled. I suddenly regretted inviting her, thinking that she could actually be civil for one moment.

Tanya leaned towards me, "If I wasn't in your apartment, I would really claw at you until you can make a Bella Swan wig out of that disgusting mane."

I leaned back, "I could act scared, but acting is your job. Tell me, Tanya, what was it like to play Dead body number 4 on CSI? It was a good performance, but I was sure I saw you breathe for one second and then I realised, dead bodies _breathe_ don't they?"

Tanya gave me a disparaging look before turning towards the door and almost ripping it open before slamming it shut. Across the room I saw Edward give a smile and mock wipe the sweat from his forehead. I smiled and weaved my way back up to the stage. I nodded at all of the people who were waiting for me to finish my set.

I used to think that my life was about revenge. I used to always want to have revenge and then reap the satisfaction that it was gave me. Before I even met Edward Cullen I could remember that I was wired up in celebrity politics and having to watch your back all the time and having to trash-talk people for the sake of it. I was willing to change this once I went to Forks, but there was Edward Cullen. I wanted revenge so bad on Edward Cullen that I lost myself, more so than I had ever done before. Things have changed, I figured out that the more nicer I am to people, the nicer they are back. Tanya wasn't nice at all which explained why there was a public backlash.

I wasn't going to be the person that was liked by everyone. I didn't want to be the suck-up, I was going to stand up to people that were having a go at her, but I wasn't going to throw any punches without much reason, especially the paparazzi. I wasn't going to be the headcase that I had been when I was 18, I was past the drama and the shit and I wanted to live my life the way I intended to. I had more responsibilities and I had Edward to keep me grounded. He was perfect at doing that, his caustic and venomous remarks that made me mad at him sometimes were often true.

Edward made me happier. There wasn't a compulsive need to be sarcastic anymore , unless it was with Tanya. I suppose things would be like that. He had completely overturned his womaniser reputation and gotten himself in the good graces of Jacob and the Quileutes. College had changed him completely as he had matured a lot since the day we had gotten back together.

Everything was right.

In 20, 30 years, I was going to look back on my time as a famous person and really regret one thing.

The fact that I hadn't loved myself earlier and had to force everyone to love Peyton Steele, a shield to the insults and the criticism.

I would regret that I pretended to care about the fame and let it get to me when it didn't matter.

"Wait, Bella, before you sing your next song, can I say something?"

I saw Edward's form walk towards me. No matter how many times I had seen him, there was nothing that was going to stop my heart pounding the way it did when I saw him walk over to me, with a crooked smile. The crooked smile that I hated so much before had grown on me, it was what made Edward unique, and why did he have to be conventional and smile straight? His crooked smile was kind of sexy. My only regret was that he wasn't in a proper cape with Victorian-style clothing, like a true vampire, but it was his costume. I couldn't argue with him and I wasn't going to.

Everyone's eyes were on us and Edward chuckled nervously and looked behind him. Now he was aware that everyone was looking at him and he turned slightly red under his pale foundation. He shied away from the bright lights and remained off the stage.

"I was wondering if you would accept this promise ring? Like, um, you don't have to but-but..."

I screamed wildly and jumped onto him, and because of his wicked-crazy reflexes he caught me before my insane ass hit the floor. Holding me bridal style, he looked at me with the widest smile that he could do without blowing his cheeks off. He leaned forwards and kissed me as passionately as he could whilst holding me and under the pressure of about fifty eyes on him.

There was a whistle and a few people (namely Emmett and Jasper) who shouted, "Get a room!" before he let me down and placed the simple silver band on my left ring finger.

"I may replace that ring with an engagement one," he whispered in my ear.

"You better."

He rolled his eyes and then looked at me seriously, "I love you, Bella."

A few years ago, around the same time, I would have rather spat on the pavement until my throat was completely dry and rolled in the saliva than accept the promise ring. Times change, people change. I changed. My emotions and feelings changed for the better.

I was a better person.

I was Bella Swan.

For that, I was thankful.

* * *

_Ahh, this story is like over. -Crii? _

_Title reference: My Life would Suck without You by Kelly Clarkson, I've seen her perform this live and let me tell you, it is AMAZING. No other song (aside from Since U Been Gone) has ever made me wanna stand up and dance. And it is full of meaning. _

_Thank you guys for standing by this story. Lots of hugs and kisses, _

_bexx. _


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